The True Horror of Konoha (origenal)
by jinx777
Summary: Something happened to Naruto on his seventh birthday that was so bad it broke him. The Sandaime Hokage had to put him in confinement for the safety of the village. But five years later, things come to light and Hiruzen wonders if he made a mistake. Slightly insane/not evil Naruto. WARNING, this fic is being rewritten and will no longer be updated, see story list for new vertio
1. what have you DONE!

**This is my first attempted at a story so please go easy on me. I apologize in advance for any grammar problems; it's not my strong point. Depending on the response I get by the third chapter or so will determine weather or not I continue this story. Constructive criticism is welcome but flames will be ecnord. **

XXX

**Disclaimer****- I own nothing ** :(

XXX

Chapter 1- What have you DONE!

Sarutobi Hiruzen the Sandaime Hokage of Konoha was not happy. He should have known that something would happen, it always did, but on this particular day of the year it was always the worst. He thought he could trust his ANBU, he thought his could trust most of his council, but after this he just didn't know who he could trust anymore.

Making his way down the hospital corridor to a special room set aside for when something like this happened, sending nurses and doctors alike to their knees at his barley contained killing intent, he could feel his temper rise more and more at just the thought.

**Flashback**

Sarutobi was bored, sat in yet another boring council meeting that seemed to have nothing to do with him.

All they were talking about was civilian affairs, nothing to do with shinobi. He looked around at all the people present, the civilian council, thirty of the most annoying people in the world, that just seemed to blend into each other, nothing really standing out.

The shinobi council however was made up of all the clan heads of Konoha, the Aburame, Akimichi, Hyuuga, Inuzuka, Nara, Yamanaka and of course his own clan the Sarutobi.

Then there were the village elders, Homura, Koharu and Danzo, his old teammates and former best friend. Over the years they had become more and more distant. They still talked, but it was always about village affairs.

He felt a pang of regret for that. They used to be the best of friends, but now it was like they were strangers.

It was then that he noticed for the first time that all of the civilian council seemed nervous. He picked up all the little things, the way that some of them kept looking from the clock to him, the nervous whispers between two or three council members and the fact that they all seemed to be sweating.

His warning bell was screaming. Something was wrong terribly wrong.

Then it hit him.

The room suddenly became very quiet. All eyes in the room shot to the old Hokage in fear. His killing intent seemed to become visible as a dark aura surrounded him. Slowly, he started to stand up, his head lowered.

"What have you done?" he asked in a whisper.

Everyone in the room suddenly stopped what they were doing, all turning their full attention to the old Hokage.

They could barely hear what he said. Even the shinobi had to strain their ears.

Everything in the room was quiet. Nobody wanting to be the first to break the silence that seemed to have spread around the room.

Holding all those inside the room, squeezing their chest and stealing their words before they could even think of what to say.

Surprisingly it was one of the civilian council that broke the silence. He looked like any other middle-aged civilian, short brown hair, brown eyes and wearing a simple grey kimono. He stood up slowly, carefully, as if he was scared of making any sudden movements.

"W-w-what d-do y-y-y-you mean?" He stuttered out, and by the end of his question he was shaking.

"...did you think I wouldn't notice? Did you think I wouldn't realize something was going on? I may be old but I am not senile yet. Now. Tell. Me. WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!"

By the end of Hiruzen's mini rant he had gone from a soft whisper to nearly shouting at the top of his voice. Slowly standing, he still did not raise his head to look at the now truly frightened men and women sat across from him in there seats, his eyes hidden in the shadows of his Hokage hat.

Homura, Koharu and Danzo all looked at there old friend in both fear and surprise. But what many, if they were looking them instead of the old Hokage would be shocked to see was the barely restrained hope in their eye.

Finally, after a few more minuets silence, Koharu spoke.

"Hiruzen, what's wrong?" she asked her old friend.

It was at this point that Sarutobi finally lifted his head so that all present could see his eyes. They were not the soft, caring eyes of the old man that so many had come to know.

They were as hard as steal, the pupils of his eyes shrunken in anger.

His voice ice cold Sarutobi spoke.

"Why are we here? Why are we all here? These are not shinobi matters. So far we have heard nothing that couldn't wait until the next official council meeting. So Why. Are. We. Here."

At the end of his questions he spoke each of his last words with emphases.

"I was told that there was an important matter that must be discussed and yet we have been here for fourhours straight and all you have talked about is basic information that has no real importance at all. So I ask you, why are we here."

Again, nobody spoke, nobody moved, the tension in the room becoming more and more intense with every passing minuet.

It was then that he asked a question that had a very big affect on the room.

"What is the date?"

Those four words froze all those in the room, the civilians in fear and the shinobi in sudden realization.

Everything was quiet. Then the killing intent in the room seemed to, if possible, increased tenfold. All the shinobi clan heads and the three elders adding their own killing intent to the old Hokage's.

Suddenly, having not being able to stand the killing intent in the room any longer one of the civilians, a woman in her late twenty's with black hair and a expensive looking black kimono with a image of a sakura tree in bloom stood up and screamed in a high pitched voice.

"WE DID WHAT YOU WERE TOO AFRAID TO DO AND BY NOW IT'S TOO LATE! THE KYUUBI IS DEAD AND ALL THE PEOPLE IT KILLED THAT NIGHT HAVE BEEN AVENGED AND- !"

It was then that a VEREY pisst Inuzuka Tsume shot to her feet practical frothing at the mouth, along with every other clan head in the room. Effectively shutting the woman up.

"YOU FUCKING FOOL! ARE YOU SO STUPID THAT YOU ACTUALLY THINK THAT A SEVEN YEAR OLD BOY IS THE KYUUBI! IF THAT WAS TRUE WE WOULD ALL BE DEAD BY NOW!"

At those words some of the civilian's eyes opened wide in realization and looks f absolute horror crossed their faces. What had they done?

Despite what many would believe many of the shinobi in Konoha didn't hold a grudge against the boy.

Some did, mostly those that lost everything in the attack seven years ago, but most didn't act on this hate beyond glares and harsh words.

Every now and then they would join in with the civilian if there was a mob but they weren't ninja for long after that.

Before anything else could happen, Nara Shikaku started moving to the large wooden doors, a rare serious expression on his normally bored face.

"We don't have time for this, we need to try and stop whatever is happening before it's too late."

That was all it took to snap the attention of all the people in the room the clan heads, elders and Sarutobi himself all quickly making their way to the doors. But before he pushed the doors open he paused.

Looking back at the members of the civilian council and left them with one more thing to think about.

"If anything has happened to Naruto, ANYTHING, I will come back here and when I do I will show you why they called me the 'God of Shinobi'. ANBU! Make sure none of them leave this room before I come back."

Seemingly out of nowhere, five animal masked ninja appeared in the room.

And with that he pushed the doors open.

Only to stop dead in his tracts at the sound that assaulted his and everyone else's ears. He absently thought that someone must have applied a silencing seal to the door while they were in the room.

It was the only way to explain why none of them heard the terrifying scream that seemed to echo across the village.

**End flashback**

When Sarutobi finally got to the room he stopped at the door.

He wasn't sure if he could go in.

From what he saw when they got to the seen he knew that it would be bad. It was a miracle, depending on your definition of the word, that he was even alive.

Finally raising his courage and taking a deep breath, he pushed the sliding door open.

His breath hitched at what was before him.

A small, malnourished seven year old boy hooked up to several different machines, lying on a hospital bed that made him look even smaller then he was.

His entire body was covered from head to toe in bandages. The only parts of his body that was visible through the bandages were his eyes.

Walking into the room, Sarutobi sat in the single chair set next to the bed.

As he looked at the boy he began to feel tears falling down his face. In a matter of seconds the old Hokage seemed to grow ten years older.

"I'm so sorry Naruto, if I had realized what was going on sooner I could have stopped this. You should never have had to go through that, no one should."

By the time the old shinobi had gotten over his shock from hearing the scream he and all the others were too late.

They found the young boy in the middle of a large crowed tied to a log in the centre of a large fire. Every now and then someone would throw more wood onto the fire or the occasional bottle at the still screaming boy.

But what really got to the group that had just arrived on the seen was that the boy seemed to be healing at the same rate he was burning. Whatever clothes he had been wearing was burned away long ago, giving a clear view of the young child's skin as it sizzled away then grew back.

And then they noticed something that really made them sick, he was still conscious, still screaming.

And those...people were just stood there, laughing and cheering.

After he had slaughtered half the people in the crowd in a blind rage and sent whoever was left to Ibiki, they had quickly rushed the boy to the hospital.

That was twelve hours ago, and in that time they had found out a lot about what had happened.

It seemed that the civilian council had managed to round up a small number of his ninja to help them in their vendetta against the boy.

As soon as the meeting was underway they had applied a silencing seal to the door.

After that they had surprised the AMBU guarding the boy and knocked him out then moved on to drag the poor boy out of his apartment.

The mob had then proceeded to beat the boy to within an inch of his life.

When they had their fill of beating the poor boy they tied him to the post and after some big speech from one Miss Haruno that included telling the barely conscious Naruto that the Kyuubi was sealed inside him they had lit the bomb fire.

The worst part through was that the boy had been burning for three hours straight, the Kyuubi trying to heal it's prison in a attempted to live.

But it seemed that even the great Kyuubi no Kitsune couldn't heal everything. According to the doctors Naruto had suffered third degree burns over his entire body and it seemed that, even though it was healing...

...His body would never be free of the scars.

XXX

**Hey hope you enjoyed this chapter. Next time will be from Naruto perspective. I will try to get the next chapter done as soon as possible. R&R please.**


	2. Why?

**Hey, just thought id get this one out while it was in my head :) hopefully its ok.**

XXX

**Disclaimer****- I own nothing ** :(

XXX

Chapter 2- Why?

**About 16 hours earlier **

Naruto was sat on his bed in his apartment. Today was his seventh birthday and like all his previous birthdays he spent it alone.

His apartment was made up of just two rooms, the main room, which had his bead, a table and a small kitchen he didn't know how to use.

The once white wallpaper was pealing off the walls and the carpet was covered in strange reddish- brown stains from all the times the villagers had come and beat him.

There was one window that looked out onto the street, but had several cracks and missing pieces of glass from where people had thrown rocks into his room.

The other room was what the old man said was supposed to be his bathroom. It did have all the basic things that one would find in a bathroom, a toilet, a sink, it even had a shower.

The problem however was that he never had any hot water, so whenever he took one it hurt because it was so cold.

He also learned that before he moved in someone, probably his landlord after hearing that he was moving in had disconnected the water pipe that went to the toilet. This meant that he needed to put water in it himself when he wanted to flush.

The problem with this though was that he could barely reach the top of the toilet.

He looked around his small apartment, he was lucky the old man could get him it really. Sure it was small, but it's not like he had much stuff.

And it was still better then when he was living on the streets.

Three years ago, on his fourth birthday, the orphanage had told him that they didn't have room for him anymore and through him out, literally. One of the care workers had thrown him out by the scruff of his neck.

The first few weeks had been hard but he soon learned which bins would have food and which alleys would have boxes that he could sleep in.

But then the villages had found him.

That was when the beatings had started.

Luckily the old man had found him. He didn't trust him at first, it wasn't the first time someone had tricked him.

He could remember once how a 'nice' old lady had invited him into her house to eat when she found him looking through her bins.

As soon as he was in she locked the door and proceeded to beat him with her walking stick, screaming something about how he had 'killed her only son'.

He finally managed to get away from her by jumping through a window.

It was also the first time he noticed that he healed _very_ fast. When he had got far enough away he had stopped and looked at his arms, filled with shards of glass from the window.

Then, right in front of his eyes the glass was pushed out of his skin and the wounds had healed.

After that he didn't know what to think but just assumed that it was the same for everyone and didn't think about it again.

The old man had been careful when he saw him, shocked as well. But after getting over the shock he took a shivering Naruto to the hospital and after getting him looked at and then brought him here.

That was about a year ago. He never left the apartment. All his food was brought to him so he never needed to. Not that it stop the villagers.

The old man would visit him every now and then.

But the old man hadn't had time as of late. Naruto didn't know what he actually did but he knew it was important.

Lost in his thoughts he didn't even realize that he started singing to himself.

"Happy... Birthday... to me. Happy... birthday to me. Happy...Birthday... Naruto... Happy... Birthday... to... me."

By the end of the song Naruto was shedding silent tears.

Why.

Why did he have to be alone?

Why.

Why did the villages hate him?

"Why...why... why...WHY!"

At the end of his rant Naruto stood up and through the glass of water in his hand into a wall.

Not being able to take it anymore he through himself on to his bed and sobbed into the mattress.

XXX

While this was going on ANBU captain Hatake Kakashi, was looking through the window from his perch on the building across the street.

His hart ached at the sight before him.

No one should have to go through what he had, and defiantly not a young boy.

Kakashi had been the boys guard ever since the Hokage had found the boy in a back alley, half frozen from the cold.

When he had first seen the boy in the hospital he thought he was actually dead, the Hokage had called him straight to his office and told him what had happened.

He had volunteered to be the boy's bodyguard straight away.

The Hokage had agreed but had to set certain rules. The boy was still a civilian after all and he couldn't actually be given a guard. So they had come up with a solution.

Kakashi spent almost all his spare time watching the boy. This made it so he could stop anyone that he could from going after the boy, mostly civilians, but there was a few ninja as well.

The only problem with this was that he still needed to go on missions so nobody would realise that the boy actually had protection and not just a passing ANBU.

Kakashi knew who the boy's parents were. Really, you would need to be completely blind not to.

He had his mother's last name for a start.

And as for his farther, well, just look at him, he was a carbon copy. The only difference between the two was the skinny frame and whisker marks on his cheeks.

So caught up in his thoughts was Kakashi that he didn't notice the black clad figure behind him.

By the time he realised that someone was there it was too late.

The next thing Kakashi knew there was felt a sharp pain in the back of his head, and then nothing.

XXX

After an hour or so of crying Naruto had finally fallen asleep.

His dreams were full of faceless people, villagers. They all had one thing in common.

They hurt him.

His dreams were always the same at least that was when he could get to sleep. It was very rare for Naruto to sleep more then an hour at a time. He didn't know why; he just didn't seem to really need to sleep.

But when he did it was always the same.

He would always have nightmares. Some of them, like the one he was having now, were just of all the times he was mobbed.

Other times he had nightmares of strange creatures, odd, _things_. Some of them didn't even seem to have a shape, shades in the shadows of his dreams.

The thing that scared him the most though was when he had a dream about _it._

The fox.

He didn't know why but it was always the clearest thing in his nightmares.

And it was the one thing that was always there. Whenever he slept, no matter what he was dreaming, it would always make an appearance.

A large fox, bigger then any building he had seen in Konoha, bigger even then the Hokage monument.

With its blood red fur and teeth larger then a full grown man it was the most frightening thing he had ever seen.

But the most terrifying thing about it was the eyes.

Large red pools of moving liquid fire ringed in black with a black slit going down the middle. It was like the two colours were fighting for dominance, a never ending battle.

But it was the eyes that haunted Naruto in his waking hours, they held no real emotion. No malice, no happiness, nothing, just a primal instinct, primal need.

And yet they shone with an odd intellect. It was like the fox was both a beast yet intelligent at the same time.

XXX

Naruto was woken when he heard loud banging at his door.

Instantly he knew what was going on. It happened all the time. Sitting up in his bed he just stared at the door.

Waiting.

He knew from experience that there was no point in hiding.

They always found him.

It didn't take them long too get through the door and when they did Naruto saw a large number of people all crowded in the corridor outside his room.

He recognised some of them from previous mobs, the middle age fat man that had no hair, the old man with the long white beard and one eye.

And then there was the woman with the pink hair. She was a regular when it came to his mobs.

Hell half the time she was the instigator.

With her pink hair and green eyes she normally stood out in a crowd. She had on an elegant red dress with a strange white pattern. She looked like she was going out on a night in the town not leading a mob to a small boy.

They just stood there in the doorway for a moment; the pink haired lady had a smug look on her face, just staring at him.

Her voice cold she turned around and went to wait outside.

"Take it outside."

With those three words she had broken the flood gates. The men lurched forward and roughly grabbed the boy.

Naruto could smell the alcohol on their breath. This was bad, it was always worse when they were drunk.

After they dragged him outside Naruto saw more people. This was _very_ bad. There had never been this many people before.

For the next half hour the mob proceeded to beat, stab and bludgeon the small boy until there seemed there was nothing left to hurt.

Throughout the whole experience Naruto never made a sound, not even to scream.

He wouldn't give them the satisfaction.

This just seemed to make them angrier.

But as soon as they stopped he started to heal.

It was then that the pink haired woman came back into view.

"Tie him to the post."

Again Naruto was hurled up and dragged to a post that someone had stuck to the ground and built a bomb fire around it.

Now, Naruto might be young but even he could see what was going to happen. If he could have put up a fight as they tied him to the post he would, but he was still healing.

When he was secured to the post with ninja wire the mob moved back and five black clad people with hoods stopping anyone from seeing their faces stepped out of the crowd and just stood there, surrounding the unlit bomb fire.

When the crowd had quieted down a bit the pink haired lady stepped forward and stared at him. After a minuet of just looking into his eyes she smirked and turned to address the crowd.

"Tonight, we right the wrongs that have been done to us! Tonight, we take are revenge on this _thing_!"

At this point she throws her right arm out towards Naruto. The crowd began to cheer as her words got more and more heated. Someone in the crowd got so worked up by this that they through an empty sake bottle at the beaten boy.

Then Naruto said one thing, one question that he needed answered.

"Why?"

No one answered.

After waiting for the crowd to settle down again she continued.

"Seven years ago, the Kyuubi attacked this village, destroyed are homes and killed are families! Tonight we take are revenge! This boy has the Kyuubi sealed inside him, therefore he is the Kyuubi! The Hokage may be fooled by its facade, but we are not!"

At the end of her tirade she turned to look at the boy.

Naruto was shocked, he didn't understand.

He was the Kyuubi?

That was impossible. Wasn't it?

His thoughts flashed to his nightmares, to a giant red fox.

What if it was true? What if he was the Kyuubi?

It made senses. The glares, the beating, the hate, it was all because he was the Kyuubi.

But if he was the Kyuubi why didn't he remember. If he had killed all those people he would remember.

but before he had time to truly think about this the pink haired lady raised her hands and looked at each of the five people around the fire.

"Light it up!"

And with that the five people around the bomb fire started to make hand seals.

When they finished five voices could be heard saying.

"**Fire Style: Grate Fire Ball Jutsu" **

Five balls of fire simultaneously struck the bomb fire and lit it.

It didn't take long for the heat to get too much for Naruto.

He tried not to scream, to keep to his personal vow of silence. But he just couldn't.

He let it out.

All the years of pain that these people had caused him, all the things they had done.

He just let it all out.

He screamed.

He screamed so loud that it actually made them stop cheering for a moment, but the moment passed and they started again.

Soon he started too feel his skin melting off. It was indescribable; he was in so much pain. Then he noticed in his pain fogged mind that he was healing _while_ he was burning.

For free hours he screamed, but to him it seemed like a life time.

A life time of burning, riving in agony, nothing but him and the flames.

At some point in time he felt the fire stop. He suddenly started to feel very cold. He had become so used to the heat that he couldn't stop shivering.

The last thing he saw before he finally slipped into the abyss that was his mind was the old man.

Looking down on him with a sad face.

XXXX

When Naruto woke up he didn't know where he was, and he didn't care, there was no pain. He was numb. He felt nothing, both physically and mentally.

Slowly he started to notice his surroundings; he was in some sort of huge, underground cavern, solid stone wall all around him and a barely visible stone roof.

To one side he noticed a giant gate, the weird thing was that it seemed to be held shut with nothing more then a piece of paper.

As he stood up he realised that he was knee deep in some kind of strange in water. It took him a minuet to realise what it was.

It wasn't water at all.

It was blood.

And he still didn't care.

It was then that he heard it, a low rumbling sound off in the distance.

At first he thought it was thunder, but then remembered he was underground.

Whatever it was, it was getting louder.

Turning towards the gate he realised what he was hearing.

Growling.

And how did he figure that out?

By looking at the giant red fox on the other side of the gate.

He stared up into its face, into its fire like eyes. The eyes that had haunted his nightmares for as long as he could remember.

And for the first time they didn't scare him, he felt empty, numb.

The two just stared at each other for what felt like hours, until finally.

"**HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA"**

It was strange to see a fox laugh. Its voice was so deep he could feel the vibrations all around him.

"**I HAVE LIVED FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS AND NEVER HAVE I KNOWN A HUMAN, A CHILD NO LESS, TO LOOK AT ME WITHOUT FEAR. MAYBE YOU WON'T BE SUCH A BAD HOST. HAHAHAHAH!**"

"So it's true. You being here must mean the things the pink haired lady said were true. Though I can't tell where we are it dose seem oddly familiar."

That made the fox stop its laughter in its tracks.

The boy's voice sounded wrong. It had no emotion, no feeling. It actually sent a shiver up the Kyuubi's spine to hear such an empty tone in a child's voice.

It was then the fox took a good look at the boy. He had a plain white t-shirt with a pear of black shorts. His spiky blonde hair going in all directions and three whisker like marks on each cheek.

But what really caught its attention were his eyes. Eyes that were normally full of life no matter what happened, eyes that would brighten up the room just by being there, were now dead.

They held no light in them, no shine of happiness, no flashes of anger.

Nothing.

They were the eyes of an old man that had seen too much and had given up, weighting for death.

The Kyuubi didn't know what to think of this. It had never seen eyes like that, especially not in the eyes of a seven year old boy.

"**WE ARE IN YOUR MINDSCAPE. IT IS A PLACE IN YOUR SUBCONSCIOUS MIND, A BRIDGE, IF YOU WILL, BETWEEN THE TWO OF US. A PHISICAL REPRESENTATION OF OUR MINDS"**

Naruto thought about that for a moment, seeming to be getting his thoughts in order.

"I take it the blood was you, which means that my mind is... a sewer?"

Naruto had been trying to figure out where he was since he got up. It only hit him when the fox said it was his mind.

That made the fox laugh again, it was starting too actually like this kid.

XXX

**Hope you liked it I know its starting a did slow be I want to make sure I cover all my bases, it will be mostly cannon when it get to that point but with my own flare thrown in. **

**R&R :)**


	3. The Breaking Point and a Gift

**Hey hope you all liked the last chapter : ) I've actually go back to chapters 1, 2 and this one and tried to fix my mistakes, so check them out : )**

XXX

**Disclaimer- I own nothing ** :(

XXX

Chapter 3- The Breaking Point and a Gift

Sarutobi Hiruzen had sat at Naruto's bedside for three days straight; luckily, his old friends had stepped up to run the village for a few days.

He had been skeptical at first of letting Danzo anywhere near his office but it turns out he wasn't as against him as he thought. He had been, in his own words.

'Trying to bring back his Will of Fire'

It seems that he had taken it onto himself to try and give him a challenge. He had hoped that by going against most of what he said that it would force him to regain the fire that he lost at the end of the Third Great War.

Sarutobi was so happy when he heard that that he had actually hug the old cripple.

Homura and Koharu it seems had known about this from the start, but didn't have the heart to do the same. So they had distanced themselves from him, not being able to see him that way.

When the three had seen his eyes at the meeting they had seen their friend again, they had come to him the night of 'the incident'and told him everything.

Since then they had been handling everything while he waited for the boy in front of him to wake up.

They had caught most of the people that night, at least the ones that were left after he went into that rage, but some had still gotten away.

They had stopped four of the five ninja that had been involved and they and all been nothing more then a few no named Chunin that had lost their families in the Kyuubi attack seven years ago.

The rest that they had caught were just civilians, mostly drunk and they had all been sent to Ibiki and Anko.

Three days...

Three days and still no response from Naruto.

He heard the door to the room sliding open and turned to see Hatake Kakashi entering the room.

XXX

Kakashi had been in a deep depression ever since 'the incident'.

He wasn't wearing his AMBU uniform any more, just his normal attire of a black full-bodied suit, his mask and his flack jacket and his left eye covered by his forehead protector.

It was his entire fault. If he had been paying attention this would never have happened, to have been jumped by some no name Chunin.

By the time he had come too it was too late, the damage was done.

He had woken up just in time to see the Hokage go berserk and slaughter all those people. He was found on the same roof he had been sat watching over Naruto with his hands tied in ninja wire.

After hearing what had happened and a quick talk with the Hokage he had come to the Memorial Stone and just stood there, looking at the names of his old teammate and sensei.

"I'm so sorry Minato, Obito, I failed again." He whispered to the air.

He hadn't move for three days, just looking at the same names.

Finally, he decided that it was time to see if Naruto was ok.

Turning his back to the stone he took off of the hospital.

XXX

The first thing Sarutobi thought when he saw Kakashi was that he looked even more tired then he did.

The bags under his eye only seemed to emphasize this fact.

His shoulders slumped and facing the ground he slowly walked in to the room and stood next to the Hokage, looking at the boy lying in the bed.

"I don't blame you, Kakashi. It wasn't your fault. They got around all of us and you couldn't have known other ninja were going to come."

Kakashi didn't react to the Hokage's words; he just stood there, staring at Naruto. Eventually he replied, his voice barely above a whisper.

"I appreciate that Hokage- Sama, but it _was_ my fault. I let my guard down and he paid for it."

Sarutobi was afraid this would happen.

"Kakashi, they tricked us all, including me. At least we don't have to deal with those dam fools anymore."

It was true, while Naruto had been in surgery Sarutobi had gone back to the council room and repeated what had happened when he had found Naruto. The only difference being that he killed them all.

Kakashi still didn't move his eyes from Naruto's form.

"...I guess..."

It was then that one of the machines connected to Naruto started beeping rapidly.

Startled Sarutobi shot to his feet and leaned over while Kakashi ran into the hall and shouted for a doctor.

"Naruto? Naruto can you hear me? Naruto?"

Slowly, the young boy's eyes started to open.

When they did, Sarutobi, Kakashi and the just arriving doctor gasped and took a step back.

His eyes were the eyes of a corpse, lifeless. There was no emotion in his eyes.

"Dear Kami Naruto...what have they done to you?" whispered Sarutobi.

The doctor walked away over to the boy and shone a small light in his eyes.

"He's conscious, and there's nothing physically wrong with his eyes, I'm sorry there's nothing I can do at this point."

With that he left the room, leaving the two men in the room with the poor boy.

A few minuets later Naruto started to whisper something; it was so quite that the two shinobi in the room had to lean in towards the boy to hear him.

"...why? ... Why didn't you just let me die old man? ... Why?"

Those words broke both men's harts. To hear such words coming from a seven year old boy was just wrong.

Not being able to stand it anymore Kakashi left the room

_'Probably going back to the memorial stone'_ thought Sarutobi.

XXX

It was a full week later that Naruto was discharged from the hospital. He never said a word to anyone, not even the Hokage after that first sentence. It worried Sarutobi greatly. He also hadn't slept since he had initially awoke.

Kakashi hadn't come back.

As Sarutobi lead Naruto to his apartment Naruto absently noticed that the people were still glaring at him whenever the old man wasn't looking.

He was still covered from head to toe in bandages, although there was an opening at his mouth now as well as his eyes. The old man had found him some basic clothes to wear on the way. Ironically the same clothes he had when in his mindscape talking to Kyuubi.

Sarutobi had tried to talk to him about the Kyuubi, but Naruto would just stare off into space, not saying a word.

When they got to the apartment Sarutobi stayed with Naruto for an hour or so, making sure the boy was ok.

Naruto had just gone about his business as if he wasn't even there.

'_At least one good thing came out of this._' thought Sarutobi.

With the civilian council gone he was completely in charge of the village until a new one could be found. Meaning that, starting tomorrow night Naruto would get a full AMBU guard watching over him.

He had asked Kakashi to be the team leader but the man had refused, saying that he couldn't look after him anymore when he let him down like that.

Eventually Sarutobi had to go back to work; he had been away for too long as it was. Saying goodbye to the unresponsive boy he left the apartment, shaking his head at the thought of what had been done to the boy.

XXX

As the day turned to night you could find Naruto in the same spot he had been the night when they had come for him, just staring into an empty corner of the room.

It was at this point that his door opened, he hadn't locked it, he didn't see any point, it never stopped them before.

Stood in the doorway with an insane grin on her face was the pink haired lady. It seemed that she was one of the few that got away.

It was then that he saw the knife in her hand.

"Why didn't you just die? It was all planned out; I was going to be the one that lead the people to the destruction of the Kyuubi. I was going to be a hero, but you just wouldn't DIE!"

As she was saying this she had move further into the room and by the end she had stopped right in front of Naruto and stabbed the boy in the chest with her knife.

Naruto didn't react at all, not even flinching as the knife went into his heart. He just kept staring at the same corner.

This just made the woman angrier and so she kept stabbing, each time repeating the same word over and over again.

"DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE!"

It was then that something inside Naruto snapped.

Before the woman could stab him again he grabbed her by the wrist with the hand that held the knife, and in one quick movement broke it.

The lady was so shock that she just stood there staring at her wrist for a full minuet. Then she started to scream.

But before she could get to a decent volume Naruto had pushed her to the ground and placed one of his hands over her mouth.

Looking up into the young boys eyes the lady suddenly stopped her struggling and froze in terror.

They weren't empty anymore, they were filled with an insane glee at what was about to happen. The boy started to laugh, just a low chuckle at first but soon building up to full blown hysterics.

After a minuet of laughing he stopped and leaned closer to her ear and said.

"Will you walk into my parlor?" said the Spider to the Fly,  
>"'Tis the prettiest little parlor that ever you did spy;<br>The way into my parlor is up a winding stair,  
>And I've a many curious things to show when your there."<p>

And with that the small boy's body started to change before her eyes.

XXX

**Flashback**

XXX

Naruto just stared at the giant fox in front of him. He still had that blank look on his face.

"Why?" ask the blonde. Not sure what the Kyuubi was trying to do.

The fox just looked down at the boy in front of it with an amused gleam in its eyes.

"**BECAUSE IT WOULD AMUSE ME, AND YOU NEED ALL THE HELP YOU CAN GET. YOUR WEAK, IT'S PATHETIC REALLY.**"

"And you'll just give me a never seen before bloodline with no strings attached?"

The fox looked thoughtful for a moment then its eyes took on a slight shine.

"**WELL... THERE IS ONE THING I WANT.**" The fox paused here, seeing how Naruto would react.

At a small nod from the boy it continued.

"**I WANT FOR YOUR PEOPLE TO REMEMBER WHY THEY SHOULD FEAR ME. I WANT YOU TO SHOW THEM WHY MY NAME IS SO FEARD. DO THAT AND WE WILL CALL IT EVEN. JUST SPREAD A LITTLE CHAOS.**"

By the end Kyuubi's grin was so big it looked painful.

"That's it?"

"**THAT'S IT**" the Kyuubi replied with a nod.

Naruto thought about it for a moment, then agreed, what harm could it do?

"Ok"

With that the Kyuubi sent as much of its chakra through the bars and into the boy as possible.

After a few minuets of that it pulled back, slightly winded.

"**IT'S DONE.**"

"So what can I do?"

"**YOU CAN BE ANYTHING.**"

Naruto looked at the fox for a moment.

"Isn't that just what parents tell their kids to make them feel good?"

The fox looked at the boy, trying to tell if he was serious, a large sweat drop appearing at the back of its head.

"**YES... IT IS. BUT IN THIS CASE IT'S LITERAL. I BASICALLY GAVE YOU THE ABILITY TO SHAPESHIFT. IT'S ONLY LIMIT IS YOUR IMAGINATION.**"

Naruto thought about that for a minuet.

That sounded useful, to be able to change into practically anything...

"How does it work?"

"**IT'S SIMPLE ENOUGH. JUST PICTURE A FORM IN YOUR HEAD AND CHANNEL CHAKRA THROUGH YOUR BODY.**"

"And I can be anything?"

"**WELL... THERE WILL BE LIMMITS. NOTHING TOO BIG AND THE MORE COMPLECTS IT IS THE HARDER IT WILL BE. OH AND IF YOUR NOT CARFUL YOU COULD LOSE CONTROL AND GO ON A KILLING SPREE, DOESN'T THAT SOUND FUN?**"

Naruto just stared at the fox for a moment. It made sense, and he didn't really care about killing.

"Fair enough."

The fox just stared at the boy in front of it for a long moment. Then burst out laughing.

"**HAHAHAH... THEY... HA... THEY REALLY DID... HAHAHA... BREAK YOU DIDN'T THEY... MY KAMI, THIS IS THE MOST FUN I'VE HAD IN CENTURY'S... HAHAHAHA.**"

Naruto just stood there, staring at the fox.

When the Kyuubi calmed down enough to stop laughing it turned back to the boy.

"**THANKS FOR THAT... WOOW, I NEEDED THAT. ANYWAY I THINK IT'S TIME FOR YOU TO WAKE UP. SEE YOU LATER KIT.**"

Before Naruto could reply he got very dizzy and fell back into the water. When he opened his eyes he could see the old man leaning over him.

XXX

**End Flashback**

XXX

He could feel it, the way his body shifted to his will. He could feel muscles ripping and knitting themselves back together. He could feel his bones braking and reforming. The way his clothes seemed to meld into his body.

It was excruciating.

And euphoric.

He had never felt so alive.

When it was done he stood up and stepped back from the pink haired lady. She was so scared of what was in front of her that she forgot to scream.

Standing in front of her, in all its ten foot tall glory was... she didn't even know, it was like something out of a nightmare.

If only she knew.

It actually _was_ from one of Naruto's nightmares.

His very skin covered in what looked like an ivory white shell.

The only clothing he had was a torn black cloth that covered his waste down to his knees and held up by bandages tied to his waste, his body covered in mussels, reminiscent of a body builder.

Long, spiky, blonde hair going down to his feet and strange red markings covering his body. His hands were huge with long, boney fingers tipped in vicious claws.

He had what seemed to be spikes growing out of his shoulders and a long tail coming out the base of his spine. The end of which was a deep crimson, as if it had been dipped in blood.

But what really scared her was his face and chest.

A demonised skull like mask covered his whole face with long, sharp teeth in what seemed to be spread in a horrifying grin and more of the red markings on the left side of its face. Cold yellow eyes ringed in black with a sick glee shining in their eyes.

And a hole in the centre of his chest where his hart should be.

Naruto just stood there a moment to admire himself. This had been one of the creatures he had seen in his nightmares. It looked just like it, down to the last detail.

He laughed, he couldn't stop himself. He absently noted that his voice had a strange echo to it, as if more then one voice was talking at the same time.

The irony, for years this creature had haunted his nights, now it would haunt others as well.

Without saying a word he bent down and grabbed the pink haired lady by her throat, lifting her up easily with one hand above his head.

And with no effort at all, through her through the window and into the street outside.

Jumping out after her he slowly made his way over to her broken body.

She was covered in cuts and broken glass from being sent though the window, both her arms were bent in odd ways, obviously broken in several places.

She was still conscious, but only just.

He couldn't have that; he wanted her fully aware for what he was going to do.

Quicker then most eyes could see he speared her through the abdomen with his tail. He held it there for a moment, listening to her gargled screams.

Music to his ears.

He then sent a small pulse of his chakra though his tail and into the woman on the ground at his feet.

Instantly her eyes shot open and she started to scream as loud as her abused lungs could manage.

Again Naruto stopped and listened to her screams.

When he had enough of that he picked up his foot and brought it down on her, mostly, uninjured left leg, breaking it in the process.

He tilted his head to the side in fascination as her screaming changed pitch.

He did it again with her right leg.

Then each of her already broken arms.

Each time he did this she made a new sound.

XXX

A platoon of five ANBU that had heard the screams and come too investigate were watching in stunned silence as they saw some... _thing_, mutilating the still alive woman.

What shocked them more was that it was the woman that they were told to look for.

She had somehow managed to get away on the night of 'the incident' and had avoided them ever since, it was very embarrassing.

A cat masked ANBU turned to another with a dragon mask and asked in a clearly feminine voice.

"What should we do captain?"

The now identified captain remained quiet for a moment, before replying.

"You go and inform the Hokage, we will stay here and try to subdue... it... hurry."

And with that she was gone in a swirl of leafs.

The four remaining ANBU jumped off the building they were stood on and ran towards the creature.

Seeing them coming out of the corner of is eye, Naruto grabbed his limp prey and held her to his chest, facing the ANBU, still laughing insanely.

They stopped in their tracks, not expecting the... creature to have seen them coming. Stepping forward the dragon masked ANBU spoke.

"Drop the woman and get on the ground... do you understand me?"

The creature just laughed at him.

Then, slowly reaching around the woman's stomach dragged its claws over it, causing her intestines to fall out onto the ground.

The ANBU were shocked, and what was worse was that the woman was still alive.

But not for long.

And just before the light left her eyes the creature reached a hand around her neck and pulled it off.

No effort, it made it look easy.

What it did next shocked the ANBU just as much. In its echo like voice it started to... Sing?

**"Ring, a round the roses,**

**A pocket full of posies,**

**A-tish-yoo, a-tish-yoo,**

**_You_****, All. Fall. Down."**

At the end of the song it started to laugh again.

One of the ANBU, a large, bear masked man ran forward.

"No! Stop! We have to take it together!" called out the captain, but it was too late.

The bear masked ANBU started to run through hand signs but before he could finish the creature appeared in front of him and grabbed is arms just below the shoulders.

The ANBU let out a scream as the hands got tighter and tighter.

Until finally, with a quick jerk, both his arms were pulled off just below the shoulder, but before he could get over his shock at the loss of his arms the creature used them as clubs and hit him so hard his head exploded in a shower of blood and gore.

Insane laughter could be heard all over Konoha.

Without further ado, the remaining three AMBU sprung into action.

"**Wood style: Tree Bind Jutsu**"

Instantly long pieces of wood shot out of the ground and wrapped themselves around the beast's arms, legs, neck and chest.

"**Fire style: Great Fire Ball Jutsu**"

"**Wind style: Great Breakthrough Jutsu**"

The too Jutsu joined together, the fire being fuelled by the fire turning white from the heat.

The laughter stopped as soon as the attack hit and the ANBU breathed a sigh of relief, only to take a step back in fear when it started again, if weaker than before.

Nothing had ever survived that combination, nothing.

When the smoke cleared they could clearly see the creature still standing, although only just. Its body was covered in what seemed to be... cracks?

As they watched pieces started to fall of the beast and to the ground, only to disintegrate before they reached the floor into black smoke.

The Hokage arrived with the cat masked ANBU just in time to see the beast before it seemed to burst into black smoke, leaving an unconscious Naruto with a huge, insane grin on his face.

Looking at the bloodbath before him then to the seven year old boy Sarutobi could only say one thing.

"Dear Kami Naruto... what have you done?"

XXX

**Hey, yes its Ichigo's hollow form, this is not a bleach cross I'm just using the look cuz it's creepy :)**)

**I hope you all liked it and if anyone wants to come up with ideas for what Naruto could turn into later on in the story I will think about using them.:)**

**R&R**


	4. From a School to an Academy

**Here's the new chapter, let me know what you think. :)**

XXX

**Disclaimer****- I own nothing ** :(

XXX

Chapter 4: From a School to an Academy 

**One year later**

Sarutobi slowly made his way down the dark corridor, a man in a long white coat just a few paces behind.

He wasn't in a rush; he didn't really want to be here at all.

Not looking back at the man he asked.

"Has there been any progress."

The man didn't even slow down as he looked down at the clipboard in his hand.

"I'm sorry, Hokage-sama, there has been no change since the last time you were here."

Sarutobi just gave a nod and kept walking.

The school was a depressing place.

It was built underground and was designed for the express purpose of housing and rehabilitation of shinobi that couldn't cope with the stress or responsibilities of the job.

Those that had let their guilt overwhelm them, or that had had given into their bloodlust.

If a ninja had a mental breakdown, of any kind, they were sent here.

On both sides of the corridor were solid steel doors with heavy locks and a small window so the workers and doctors could see into them. At the bottom of each door was a small locked hinged door, these were used to push food through.

When he came to the last door in the corridor he stopped.

Taking a deep breath to calm his nerves he looked through the small window in the door.

It was more or less the same as all the other cells, white walls with a simple cot in the corner.

What made this one stand out however was that the walls, floor and roof were covered in blue glowing seals, they were the only source of light in the cell and made it look like something out of a horror movie.

Another thing that made it stand out from the other cells was the fact that there was dried blood on the walls and floor along with the seals.

And finally, the other thing that set this cell apart from the others was that it was the only one that didn't have a shinobi.

This was the room of one Uzumaki Naruto.

After what had happened with the Haruno woman Sarutobi had done all he could to help Naruto. But when he started killing villagers he'd had no other choice but to put him here.

The seals were applied by his old student Jiraiya, who had been beside himself with rage when he heard about what had happened.

They were designed to do two things.

The first was to strengthen the walls of the cell and the second was to constantly drain as much of Naruto's chakra as possible.

It turned out that because of the amount of healing the Kyuubi had done to it Naruto's body had been practically saturated in its chakra.

This had resulted in Naruto gaining chakra reserves far beyond what was thought possible.

If anyone other than Naruto was to go in that room with the seals active, they would be killed in a matter of seconds. As it was, they only seemed to make him slightly tired.

When the boy had first been admitted they had sent a Yamanaka to try and assess his mental state. That had been a mistake. He was now in the cell next to Naruto's.

A few weeks later a doctor had gone in to try a talk to the boy and that was the source of the dried blood on the walls and floor.

Looking into the room Sarutobi started to panic when he didn't see anyone in the room. He was about to turn around to asked the doctor where Naruto was when he jumped back from the door, hart beating a mile a minuet when a face appeared just on the other side of the glass.

But it wasn't Naruto's.

The face in the glass was that of a pale girl with long messy black hair. She was so pale she had an almost blue shine to her skin, which was only accentuated by the glow of the seals.

She had dark rings around her mouth and glowing orange eyes, a small smirk on her face as she looked at Sarutobi.

Just looking at her sent shivers down the old Hokage's spine.

"Stop playing games Naruto, I'm not in the mood for it today."

The girl's smirk turned into a full-blown grin at the old mans words, showing her slime covered black teeth.

"Awww, you don't want to play with me? That's not fair. The doctors are boring; they've seen most of what I can do. But you, I've got so much I can show you."

Her voice sounded so innocent, like the tinkling of bells, it didn't seem right that a voice like that would come out of something so... Wrong.

The Hokage didn't say anything, just stared into her bright orange eyes.

Eventually, after the two had stared at each other for a few minuets, the girl broke eye contact and pouted.

As the two men watched they could see the face change into that of a blonde haired, blue eyed boy. His face covered in bandages.

"You're no fun old man."

Turning his back to the door Naruto walked away and jumped onto his cot in the corner.

This gave them a good view of the boy.

He had grown; when he was first brought here he was barely 3'5. Now, he was 4'6, and still growing. He was very thin, no matter what the doctors gave him he wouldn't put on weight. He was wearing a modified black strait jacket with a hood attached at the back of the neck, the sleeves hanging down past his arms, almost touching the floor.

Plane black trousers going down to just above his bandaged feet.

No skin could be seen.

He just lay there, staring at the roof. Every now and then he would brake out into chuckles, as if someone was telling him jokes that only he could hear.

If only they knew.

"How have you been Naruto?"

He didn't answer straight away, but when the Hokage was about to ask again he spoke.

"I am how I am and I'm not how I'm not." More laughing.

Sarutobi sighed again, he was used to this, getting round about answers that didn't really tell him anything.

He was about to turn away when he heard Naruto call him back.

"Hey, old man."

"... Yes, Naruto."

As he looked back at the boy he could see him trying to hold back more laughter.

"What has no legs, no arms and goes AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"

"Naruto..."

"Guess."

"Stop it Naruto"

"**GUESS!**"

Sarutobi was slightly taken aback by that.

"I... Don't know Naruto, what is it."

At this point Naruto finally took his eyes off the roof and locked eyes with Sarutobi.

"A villager after I've pulled their limbs off."

They kept eye contact for several more seconds before Naruto started laughing again.

Without another word Sarutobi turned around and left, the sound of Naruto's insane laughter following him down the corridor.

XXX

**Four years later**

Five years.

It had been five years since 'the incident'.

Five years since Naruto had killed those people.

And five years since he had no other choice but to put Naruto in the school.

At least the new civilian council this time around didn't petition him everyday to execute the 'Kyuubi brat'.

They still didn't like the boy. But after what had happened, they were at least neutral.

He couldn't believe he let Danzo talk him into this, it was a big risk, but if it worked...

Making his way down the corridor towards Naruto's cell he couldn't help but hope the boy would agree.

Looking into the room it still surprised him just how much it took to keep the boy contained.

When he was younger it had been easy enough, just the seals around the room could stop him.

Then they found out that there was a side effect to the seals, because they were on all the time, putting a constant strain on Naruto's coils.

This resulted in his already unbelievable reserves growing even larger.

So every year they needed to increase the security.

The walls were the same, covered in seals and dried blood, but now there was no cot in the corner.

Naruto was knelt in the centre of the cell, with thick, black chains holding him into place bolted to the floor. The chains covered in the same seals as the walls.

The boy looked up when he noticed Sarutobi standing there. He didn't say anything, just stared at him with that insane grin he had become so well known for.

"How have you been Naruto?"

"I am how I am and I'm not how I'm not."

This had become a routine for the two; it was almost enough to bring a smile to the old mans face. It was one of the few things Naruto did that didn't have any malicious intent behind it.

"I have a proposition for you."

At this the boy got an odd look in his eye, this was different.

After making sure he had Naruto's full attention he continued.

"You can't spend the rest of your life here and the council agrees. So we have decided to offer you a chance to become a ninja of Konoha."

There was a moment of silence before Naruto's grin spread even wider.

"I'm listening."

"You would need to behave. No killing, or mauling, civilian, clients, classmates, teammates, teachers or other shinobi of the leaf."

"... I _think_ I could do that."

This brought a smile to the old mans face.

He had agreed.

"Good, I will be back soon to take you to the academy to meet the other genin, as you don't know the academy Jutsu you will be allowed to skip the exam. Seeing as you are... well... you. I don't think you will have a problem."

As he turned to go and fill in the necessary paperwork he stopped when Naruto asked him a question.

"Hey, old man... I can still kill other ninja right?" at the end of this he was starting to chuckle to himself.

Sarutobi thought about that for a moment before saying.

"Yes, Naruto, you can kill other ninja."

And with that he left, listening to Naruto's laughter and thinking about what he was about to unleash on the shinobi world.

XXX

As Umino Iruka stood in front of his class room he could already feel the headache coming on. It was the last day and they still wouldn't be quiet.

Taking a big breath he did the hand sign for his infamous '**bighead Jutsu**'.

"SHUT THE HELL UP YOU BRATS!"

Instantly everything went quiet.

"That's better. Now as you know today is the day you are sorted into your three man teams, the problem with this is that we are one person short. However, the Hokage has found a suitable candidate and will be bringing them here in a few minuets. So I want you all on your best behaviour."

At hearing that there would be someone new the class burst into whispers.

Whoever it was, if they were hand picked by the Hokage himself then they must be strong.

It even got the attention of one Uchiha Sasuke.

'_Finally, someone that might give me a challenge._'

It was at this point that Inuzuka Kiba decided to share his thoughts.

"Wait a minuet, what about the exam. We all took it; it's not fair if this new guy doesn't!"

"Calm down Kiba, there are special circumstances that not even I know about. But when they get here you can ask them yourself."

That seemed to satisfy the boy for the time being.

It was a few minuets later that a knock was herd at the door. The class fell silent again as Iruka went to open it.

"Welcome Hokage-sama, thank you for taking the time out of your day to come."

"It's no problem Iruka."

After the old Hokage walked into the room the class could see the boy stood behind him.

He was tall, very tall, and skinny. At 6'3 he was the tallest twelve year old any of them had ever seen. But because of the way he stood slightly hunched over it was hard to tell.

He had on a strange black jacket with what looked like buckles all over it, a hood sewed into the back of the neck and sleeves that went down past his hands and to his knees.

Long spiky blonde hair that went to just above his waste and bandages covering any exposed flesh from view.

The only parts of his face that could be seen were his blue eyes and his mouth that had a huge grin on his face.

It actually unnerved them a little.

It was at this point that they saw Iruka; he was backed against the wall, staring at the boy in front of him with wide fear filled eyes.

Seeing his reaction Sarutobi told the now clearly terrified man.

"Don't worry Iruka, Naruto has promised me he will behave himself,"

This did calm the man a little; if there was one thing known about the boy it was that he has never broken his word. It was a mystery; no matter how insane he was he still had some kind of moral code. Unfortunately nobody knew what most of it was accept the boy and maybe the Hokage.

But he was still not sure this was a good idea.

"Are you sure Hokage-sama?"

"Very, you have nothing to worry about, isn't that right Naruto?... Naruto?"

When the boy didn't answer the old man turned to face the boy.

But he wasn't there.

Quickly looking around he spotted the boy crouched on a desk staring down at Sasuke, their faces only inches apart.

The class and Iruka were stunned; they hadn't even seen him move.

When Sasuke had gotten over his own shock he asked in a clearly irritated voice.

"What are you looking at?"

Naruto just kept staring. When Sasuke had enough he was about to ask again and that was when Naruto asked.

"Did you know you have a duck ass on your head?"

At this the class burst out laughing, all except for the Uchiha and a few of his fan girls.

But when Sasuke made a grab at him he was already back next to the Hokage.

"Naruto... you said you would behave."

Naruto turned his face to look at him and replied.

"Nooo, I said I wouldn't kill, mame or permanently break them, you never said anything about _behaving_."

The class was shocked at his words, to talk about such things without any hesitation.

What the hell was wrong with this guy?

Sarutobi took a deep breath, then let it out slowly.

'_At least he didn't kill anyone... yet_.'

"Just introduce yourself so we can move on please."

"Whatever old man." Shocking the class yet again at his disrespect.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto, I like what I like and I hate what I hate, though... nothing I hate seems to be around for long when I hate it." After saying this he broke out into giggles.

"I don't have a dream or goal in my life, because quite frankly, I don't actually have any will to live, hahaha!" after seeing their faces when he said this he couldn't hold it in any longer, he laughed.

With the introduction out of the way Naruto just sat on the floor where he was.

Deciding to humour him the Hokage nodded to Iruka to continue with the team placements.

"R...Right, hm, well then. Team 1 will be comprised of..."

It went on like that for several minuets.

"Team 7, Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura and Inuzuka Kiba under Hatake Kakashi."

When Iruka had said her name Sakura had jumped up screaming about true love.

It was then that Naruto saw her, and grinned wider.

When Sakura had calmed down Iruka had continued.

"Team 8, Hyuga Hinata, Aburame Shino and... Uzumaki Naruto, under Yuhi_ Kurenai_."

"And finally, team 10, Akimichi Choji, Nara Shikamaru and Yamanaka Ino under Sarutobi Asuma.

When he finished reading out the names he put down the list and said.

"I want you to know that I am proud of all of you and that I expect great things from you all, and remember, you are all shinobi of the leaf now. That is a big responsibility. I trust you to act accordingly. Your new instructors will be here soon to pick you up."

And with that both Iruka and the Hokage left the room, Iruka looking back over his shoulder as he went, then closing the door behind him.

Leaving the class alone with Naruto.

They all looked at him for a moment.

...And he just looked back with that huge grin on his face.

"_I think I'm going to enjoy this._"

XXX

**Well that's that chapter done I would like to thank you all your support up to this point. I would also like to thank 'Incendie de Glace' for the idea he gave me. :) I will be trying to avoid bashing, but will make fun at points, also. Sasuke is not arrogant in this story just moody and sarcastic for know. I didn't put Naruto because of te history with sakura an Kakashi. Probably wont be able to update till next weekend or the one after that. As always R&R :)**


	5. Sensei, Classmates and Teammates

**Here's the new chapter, let me know what you think. :)**

XXX

**Disclaimer****- I own nothing ** :(

XXX

Chapter 5: Sensei, Classmates and Teammates

Yuhi Kurenai was a beautiful woman.

No one could or would argue with that.

She was an average height at 5'6, with long brown hair that cascaded down her back and a wonderful figure that was the envy of almost every woman in Konoha.

Her clothes were made of what appeared to be bandages, with one red sleeve, white shorts and a mesh under shirt.

She wore almost no makeup, just some red lipstick and blue eye shadow and with her exotic red eyes she was without a doubt one of the most beautiful ninja in the village.

She was also very nervous.

Even if the Hokage had assured her that he was somewhat safe to be around, she was still nervous.

XXX

Flash back- five hours earlier

XXX

"Hokage-sama, you can't be serious. That boy is dangerous."

Kurenai had an incredulous look on her face, maybe the old mans age was finally catching up to him?

They were currently in the Hokage office and the he had just told her that Naruto would be on her genin team.

She knew of the boy, hell everyone knew of him. She didn't blame him for being the Kyuubi container, if anything she felt sorry for him.

But he was put in the school for a reason.

"Kurenai, calm down, I know what I am doing. Do you think that I would put your other students at risk? Despite what many think he is not as dangerous as the villagers would like you to believe."

"With all due respect, he was put in the school for a reason Hokage-sama. He killed innocent people. How could you say he is not as dangerous as they say?"

Sarutobi looked at her for a long minuet before he sighed.

"Kurenai, I'm disappointed in you."

Those words shocked her, but before she could say anything he continued.

"As a ninja you should always look underneath the underneath. And as an intelligence gatherer you should know better then to listen to hearsay from a group of bitter villagers. Did it ever occur to you that if those villagers were innocent that Naruto would have been put to death?"

Kurenai's eyes widened at the implications.

"But... if that's true... I don't understand. I thought you put him in the school because he was dangerous?"

"I did, but at the time there were too many holes, too many things that didn't add up, so I looked into it further. It turns out that Naruto; in the few weeks leading up to him being put in the school never technically did anything wrong."

Kurenai was about to object to this but again the Hokage continued before she could.

"In the case of Miss Haruno, self defence, there was never any doubt about that, but the others..."

Here Sarutobi took out his pipe and lit it, taking a deep breath before he continued.

"The three men, self defence, turns out they were drunk and attacked him. The two men in the ally, it was later found out that they had been attempting to rape a young girl, Naruto stopped them. The orphanages care workers, we found out they were selling children into slavery outside the village. Every one of the people Naruto killed was later found to have either attacked him first or found guilty of crimes."

Kurenai didn't know what to say. How could she have been pulled in by the villagers so easily?

She prided herself on her ninja skills.

But this was a huge mistake on her part. But then something occurred to her.

"But Hokage-sama, if this is true then why was he kept in the school, surely he should have been released when this was found out? Why did you leave him there?"

At this question the Hokage got a sad look in his eyes.

"Because he asked me to..."

Again, Kurenai was shocked. Nobody asked to be kept in the school.

"But... why?"

Sarutobi took another deep breath from his pipe before letting it out again.

"At that point Naruto still had some semblance of his old self. He still does, though it's berried under the insanity. In a moment of lucidity he realized what was happening to him. He could see what was happening and knew that if he didn't get away from people for a while he could lose himself completely. So he asked to be left in the school until I thought he could be trusted. I have watched him over the years, and I can honestly say that although he is the most insane fucker I know, he is also one of my most trusted people."

At seeing the confused look on the young woman's face he elaborated.

"It is true that Naruto is insane, but he has still kept what makes him a good person. It is what makes him different from many that lose their minds. He has morals, they can be hard to see, but they are there. He never hurts children; scare them, yes, but never hurt them. He also has a respect for women, which all things considered is a miracle. He also will never break a promise once it has been made."

Kurenai didn't know what to say. Naruto just didn't make any sense too her.

"However..."

This made her stop her train of thought.

"There is a problem. He can't control himself when he kills. He will make anyone that he deems worth killing go through extreme pain before he will let them die. He has been known to scare ANBU with his... methods, both psychological and physical."

That worried Kurenai, ANBU were trained to be fearless, to not let anything bother them.

The best of the best.

And they were scared of what a twelve year old boy could do?

Taking a deep breath, Kurenai asked.

"Can you tell me anything about his abilities? If he is going to be on my team I need to know what to expect."

This made Sarutobi smile.

"He has enhanced senses, strength, reflexes and he is able to process information at an astonishing rate. He has been out of the school for only a day and has already made his way through most of the Konoha library."

This surprised Kurenai, to be able to read and understand so much information in such a short time was truly amazing.

"He also has a bloodline; it has been designated as '**Shape Shifter**' he is able to become almost anything, if he can picture it in his mind he can more then likely become it. It is similar to the **Transformation Jutsu**. But unlike the** Transformation Jutsu** he physically changes his body."

The implications of this were spinning through Kurenai's head. To be able to become anything, the potential was practically limitless.

"However there is a catch, the longer he uses it the harder it is to keep it up or in some cases, to come back. From what he has told me he is currently able to hold a basic '_Shift'_ as he called it, for three days, but the more complex it is the harder it gets."

This made perfect sense to Kurenai, with every bloodline there was always a weakness.

She also now understood why he was on her team. With a bloodline to change into anything he could make a great intelligent gatherer, and with his... other... talents, he could cover the rest of them if the need to retreat should occurr.

She was broken out of her thoughts when the Hokage stood up from his chair.

"I'm sorry Kurenai, but I need to go and check on him now, before he runs out of books to read and moves on to something else. I hope I can trust you to teach your future students to the best of your ability."

Standing up from her chair, Kurenai did a small bow to her leader and replied.

"Yes Hokage-sama, I understand."

XXX

Flashback end

XXX

She was now on her way to meet her team with the other sensei's and just couldn't stop herself from feeling nervous, only for them to stop at the door when they heard the voices inside the room.

XXX

They all sat in silence for a few minuets, just staring at the strange boy in front of them. He was just sitting there, looking around the room with that creepy grin on his face.

Eventually Kiba, being the hyperactive loudmouth he is, took it upon himself to break it.

Standing up from his seat he made his way to the front of the room where Naruto was sat, smirking to himself , not seeing Akamaru shrinking back into his hood and shaking slightly.

"So... You're the guy that's to good to go to the academy like the rest of us, you don't look so strong. I bet you don't even know any Jutsu."

Naruto just sat there for a moment, looking up at Kiba. Slowly, standing up, he looked Kiba in the eyes and asked.

"What's a Jutsu?"

The other children in the room looked at Naruto incredulously, what kind of ninja didn't know what a Jutsu was.

Kiba started laughing and pointing at Naruto, and then so did the rest of the class.

"You... you... you don't even know what Jutsu is, ha. Where have you been for the past few years?"

"A mental institution for dangerously insane ninja."

That turned the laughter into shocked silence. Was he serious? What the hell!

"You're joking... right?"

"Nope. Hey did you know you need a bath? You smell like dog piss."

This got to Kiba. Nobody embarrasses him in front of his class.

"What did you say? I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!"

In his rage Kiba charged at Naruto without thinking.

But before Kiba could lay a hand on him Naruto had his right hand on the back of Kiba's head and was slamming it into the ground, or so it seemed. Just before Kiba's face connected it stopped.

Bending down, Naruto said to him, loud enough for all to hear.

"I have killed people for attacking me, and the only reason I haven't killed you is because I promised the old man I wouldn't. Think yourself lucky."

And with that he let Kiba fall to the ground, his grin still on his face.

Kiba shuffled away as quick as possible, and then made his way back to his seat.

The room was quite again, no one knowing what to say after that.

What no one expected though was for Sakura to slowly make her way over to Naruto, Ino trying to tell her old friend to come back.

When she was in front of him she asked.

"You said your name was Naruto?"

At his nod she continued.

"My dad said that if I was ever to meet you to say that we are sorry for my mother's actions to you and to ask for forgiveness, but he never said why..."

She let the question hang, hoping he would explain.

Naruto just gave her an odd look for a minuet, before his grin faded into a genuine smile.

"Thank you, and tell you're farther that there is nothing to forgive, her actions were her own, and I hold no grudge against you or your family."

At hearing this Sakura let out a breath she didn't know she was holding.

"As for what she did... I can honestly say that your mother made me what I am today."

When he said this, his grin returned in full force. It sent a shiver up her spine, as well as all those in the room, but before anyone could comment further on this the door opened and a group of people walked into the room.

One by one they introduced themselves as the sensei's and took there respective teams out of the room.

"Team 8, I'm your Jounin sensei, Yuhi Kurenai. Please follow me."

With that Shino, Hinata and Naruto followed her out of the room.

XXX

They said nothing on there way to the training ground, all lost in their own thoughts.

Shino and Hinata didn't know what to think of the boy, he seemed strong, but from what they had seen he was completely out of his mind.

Kurenai was trying not to smile. She had heard everything that had gone on in the room and was happy to know that he didn't hold a grudge. Or kill the Inuzuka boy for that matter.

And Naruto was thinking.

"_I wonder what that tree tastes like"_

When they had come to training ground 8 Kurenai motioned for them to sit down.

When they were all seated she spoke.

"Right, my name is Yuhi Kurenai; I am twenty-four years old and am going to be your new sensei. I specialize in genjutsu and my dream is to prove that women can be just as good ninja as men. Now who wants to introduce themselves next?"

Shino raised his hand and began to speak in a monotone.

"My name is Aburame Shino and I am twelve years old. I specialize in my clan's Jutsu and hope to prove that my clan is not weak just because we use bugs."

Nodding at this Kurenai turned to Hinata.

"I-I-I-I'm H-H-Hyuga Hinata, I-I-I-I am t-twelve years old a-and I sp-specialize in my cl-clan's Jutsu. I h-hope to o-one day u-u-u-unite my clan."

Hearing the stutter Kurenai made a note to introduce the girl to Anko, if anyone could break her of it, it would be her.

Turning to her last student, she was surprised to see him... tuning a violin? Where the hell had he got a violin?

After a minuet he seemed satisfied and spoke.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto and I am twelve years old. I specialize in infiltration and torture and am currently learning several other things as well. I have nothing I wish to accomplish."

At hearing that he was learning other things Kurenai got interested.

"What other things are you learning?"

Looking back up at her from his violin he said.

"Well... weapon crafting, seal making, Jutsu making and a few different fighting styles that I plan to merge together into my own personal style."

Kurenai and the two genin didn't know what to think. Most ninja picked a specialty and stuck with it, but here was Naruto looking at several different aspects like it was nothing.

While they stared at him Naruto had started to play his violin which, considering his hands were still covered by his sleeves was impressive.

Kurenai didn't know what he was playing; it started off slow but was slowly getting quicker.

It was then that Kurenai felt it, the feeling of someone casting a genjutsu. Naruto was channelling huge amount of chakra into the music to act as a wide scale genjutsu.

Smiling to herself she discreetly cancelled its effects on herself, but not the others. Naruto was doing her job for her. Her test was to see if they could detect and dispel a genjutsu anyway, so why not let him do it.

As she watched she saw Hinata and Shino fall into some kind of trance.

A few minuets later Shino was the first to notice something was wrong, his bugs telling him that he was in a genjutsu. Calmly putting his hand on Hinata's shoulder he broke them both out of the genjutsu.

When she was sure they were both out of the Jutsu Kurenai said.

"Good work Shino, and well done for helping your teammate out, but I have to ask Naruto, why did you try to put us in a genjutsu in the first place?"

When she asked this Naruto stopped playing and looked at her strangely.

"What the hell you talking bout, I can't cast a genjutsu to save my life. I've got too much chakra."

This surprised Kurenai, he was right, he did have too much chakra to do genjutsu, but she had assumed that was why he was using a violin as a catalyst. But he was doing it without even knowing it.

She would have to talk to the Hokage about this.

"Naruto, are you saying you didn't know you were channelling chakra through your violin while you were playing it?"

"Of course I was, it's something I read in a book about chakra control. This is actually my fifth violin in the last day, they kept exploding. Had to put a reinforcement seal on this one."

The casual way that he said this made her laugh. As if exploding violins were normal, although, this was Naruto after all, who knew what went on in his head?

Hinata and Shino were confused, so asked.

"W-w-w-what do you m-m-m-mean Kurenai S-sensei? "

"I agree, I don't understand."

Turning to face the two Kurenai said.

"It's quite simple really, Naruto here was channelling chakra through his violin and it acted like a catalyst for a genjutsu. Without knowing he was doing it, the genjutsu acted on its own and hypnotised us."

None of the genin knew what to say to that. Then Naruto started to laugh.

When he had calmed down Kurenai told them.

"Now, normally this would be where I give you your true gennin exam, but seeing as Naruto beat me to it you all pass. Congratulations, you are all now official gennin of Konoha. Meet me here tomorrow at 6:00am and we can start your training."

With that the three gennin left to do there own things.

Letting out a deep breath Kurenai stood up and left to report to the Hokage.

She never noticed that Naruto had come back to the training grounds.

Walking up to the tree he had seen earlier he pulled a branch off and bit into it.

"Yuck! Tastes like wood!"

XXX

**Hey hope you liked this chapter. I mostly used it to go into detail about Naruto's bloodline and attitude. Remember Naruto isn't evil in this story, just insane with a dark sense of humour. I also put some limits on him; I am trying not to make him overpowered, strong yes, but not unbeatable. **

**P.S- for thoses confused by naruto saying he was looking at jutsu making after what happend with kiba, he just said that to kiba to wind him up :)**

**R&R :)**


	6. D Ranks,Gifts and Oh Shit!

**Here's the new chapter, let me know what you think. And thank you for all of the reviews. :)**

XXX

**Disclaimer****- I own nothing ** :(

XXX

Chapter 6: D Ranks, Training and Gifts

Kurenai was at her wits end, this was her team's fourth D rank and Naruto was driving them all crazy.

Their first mission had been to paint a civilian's house, it went ok at first but the problem came when the client's wife came home and saw Naruto.

By the time her husband had calmed her down and took her into the house nobody noticed that Naruto had painted the house bright pink instead of the white the client had supplied them with.

They still didn't know where he got the dam paint.

The second mission had been to weed an old ladies garden; this had gone fine until she refused to pay Naruto.

While Kurenai had been arguing with her Naruto had replaced all her plants with cannabis.

And yet again, they still didn't know where he got the plants, though Kurenai was more worried at the thought of a high Naruto.

The third had been to catch tora, this had actually gone ok. Seems Naruto had a way with animals, he had been the first ever ninja to just walk up to tora and pick him up.

The problem had come when he left with the little beast for a while. Nobody knew what he did but after the mission it became a lot harder to catch the cat when it escaped again.

One gennin team had claimed that they had seen him jumping through the trees like a ninja.

This mission was simple, get the shopping for a woman that had broken her leg.

The problem had come when she had given Naruto a dirty look.

At the time the boy had just ecnored her but his team had got to know him over the past few weeks and knew he was going to do something.

This was why Kurenai was watching him like a hawk.

So far everything was fine.

They had just gotten back to the clients house without incident and were just waiting for their pay.

When the client had been paying them she had gave Naruto another dirty look and tried to give him half what she owed him.

The feeling of dread that had increased when Naruto didn't say anything, just stood there grinning.

A few minuets later they had gotten the money and were on their way to report to the Hokage when they heard a scream from inside the house.

Rushing back inside they had arrived to see the woman sitting on the floor, covered in bright red paint.

Naruto had somehow put a paint bomb in her shopping bags when they weren't looking.

Letting out a deep breath Kurenai and the other two gennin started to help her off the floor and to a chair in the living room, the whole time Naruto was laughing his head off, rolling around on the floor.

It took them an hour to calm her down.

Now here they were stood in front of the Hokage in his office.

For a full minuet he said nothing, just sat there looking at Naruto with his pipe in hand.

"I thought we talked about this Naruto, you can't keep attacking clients."

Naruto just stood there, giggling.

"Well... technically she wasn't a client when it went off, we had finished the mission."

None of them knew what to say to this, he was right. They had finished the mission.

Sighing to himself Sarutobi just waved a hand for them to leave.

"Whatever, I'm getting too old for this shit, just go."

With that they left to go to the training grounds.

XXX

Team eight had decided to hold off on missions for a while, at least until they could stop Naruto from being... well Naruto.

Kurenai, Hinata and Shino were currently waiting for Naruto at training ground 8.

It was one of the more secluded training grounds, with a large lake and small wooded area it was a good place to train.

Today Kurenai was planning to teach Hinata and Shino how to water walk, she would have been teaching Naruto it as well, but he was having...problems with tree walking.

The last time he tried he was blown off so hard he not only broke the tree he was trying to walk on, but three other trees as well when he flew into them.

For some reason Naruto was always a few minuets late to team training.

After waiting for a little longer they decided to start without him.

It was half an hour later when Naruto walked into the training grounds, a strange bundle on his back.

This put them all on edge. Though Naruto had never done anything to them they were still cautious.

When he got to them he put the bundle down and waved.

"Hey guys, I got you something!"

Slowly making their way over they looked at the bundle on the floor nervously.

Seeing their faces Naruto laughed.

"Don't worry so much, it's not going to explode... at least I don't think they will."

He said with a thoughtful look on his face.

This did not fill them with confidence.

Reaching down and unfolding the package Naruto took a step back and looked at them all expectantly.

"Soooo... what do you think?"

They didn't really know what to think.

On the ground before them were the most bizarre yet beautiful weapons any of them had ever seen.

The first was what looked like a normal kunai knife. But when you looked closely you could see that it was a lot smaller and streamline then most. It was also attached to some kind of leather straps by a length of ninja wire. The knife itself was also covered in strange markings that they soon realized were seals carved perfectly into the metal.

The next was a long metal pipe, about three feet in length, with a small needle like point. On closer inspection they realized that it was hollow and that there was a small hole in the end. This was also attached to leather straps and was covered in similar seals as the first.

The last was a pair of elegant gauntlets. The metal was white and the middle finger had a sharp, pin like point in the end. They were designed to go up to just below the elbows and had seals all over them.

After a while Kurenai looked at Naruto and said.

"They are beautiful Naruto, but where did you get them and why did you bring them?"

Naruto gave her one of his rare, sincere smiles when she asked that.

"Well... remember when I said that I was looking into weapon making...?"

They all grow shocked looks on their faces when he said this.

"You mean you _made_ these?"

"Yep, I made a deal with a smith in the village. I get to use his workshop and I let him look over some of my designs. Nice guy, open minded."

Naruto seemed to get lost in his own mind for a moment before he continued.

"Anyway, I brought them here because I made them for you guys. We've been a team for a while now and I made you these to compliment your fighting styles. For example..."

Here he bent down and picked up the kunai like weapon and, taking on a lecturing tone that was so out of place coming from Naruto, started to explain the weapons.

"This is for you sensei, it goes on your arm under you sleeve. Now I know that when you cast a genjutsu you can't move from one spot without disrupting your flow of chakra. So I made you this. By channelling your chakra through the wire and to the blade at the end you can control it. It will take a lot of practise but when you master it you should e able to cast genjutsu and kill your enemies without having to rely on someone to make the finishing blow."

Kurenai was speechless; Naruto had made this just for her? It was perfect. He had made her the perfect weapon after only knowing her for less then two months.

Before she could thank him he moved onto the pipe.

"Now this is for Shino and, if it works out, your family. The pipe is made from a strong metal to compensate for it being hollow, and can retract so it can't be seen. Like sensei's it goes on your arm under your sleeve. The idea is that you can have some of your bugs fill the pipe and when you stab someone you can inject them into you opponent. I know that your clan can't fight in close combat because of your bugs so this should help."

Shino was deeply impressed with the weapon. He guessed that he shouldn't be surprised; it would take someone with a mind like Naruto's to come up with something as unorthodox as this.

"And last but certainly not least, this is for Hinata. Like the others I made it to go with your family's fighting style. They are mostly designed for protection, but they can, in theory, enhance your gentle fist. By channelling chakra into the needle it can give your chakra a boost. If it works like I think it will, you will be able to actually destroy someone's chakra points."

This actually shocked Hinata. Her family had been trying to improve the gentle fist for years to the point that they could destroy a persons chakra points, and here was Naruto, the most insane ninja anyone had ever known, solving what her entire clan couldn't.

It was then that he explained the seals.

"Now as for the whole not sure of them exploding thing, the seals are your basic strengthening seals, with something of my own thrown in. Chakra channelling seals. I made them to help you channel your chakra through the metal. The only thing is I haven't... what's the word, tested them."

This surprised Kurenai more then the weapons, she knew that he was looking into seals, but never thought he would come so far in so little time.

"This is great Naruto, but why did you go to so much trouble?"

Naruto just looked at each of them for a moment, then.

"Why the hell not?"

And with that the serious Naruto was gone and back was random Naruto.

When they had gotten up after face planting, they each thanked him and asked if he had made anything for himself.

His grin took on an unnerving glint and he reached behind his back and pulled out two wicked looking, miniature scythes, hidden behind his long hair.

The handles looked like they fitted his hands perfectly and were wrapped in black leather.

The blades themselves were stained a deep black that seemed like it didn't reflect any light, and the edge a deep, blood red, with jagged teeth instead of being straight.

They had the same seals as the other weapons etched into them, but they were almost impossible to see.

They actually sent shivers down there spines just looking at them.

They held a terrible beauty that left no doubt that they were made to take life.

"These, are my scythes."

No one said anything for a few minuets, the blades seeming to weigh down the area with there own killing intent.

Which was promptly broken by Naruto falling over and laughing so hard it looked painful.

When she saw he had finally calmed down Kurenai spoke.

"Hm hm... well, thank you Naruto, these are all great, but I think Hinata and Shino should finish the water walking exercises before learning how to use them. The extra control will help I'm sure."

Shrugging his shoulders, Naruto just put his scythes away and ran to a tree. Only to fly pass them and into the water when he was blown off again.

As they watched him get up and do the same thing over and over again, Shino summed up their thoughts perfectly.

"It's hard to tell if he is a genius or an idiot sometimes."

Nodding their heads in agreement they all turned back to the lake, their new weapons in place and started the excise again.

Naruto's laughter echoing around the clearing as he was continually blasted off the trees.

XXX

It had been a month since team 8 had gotten their weapons.

And ever since then they couldn't be any closer.

Hinata and Shino had finished water walking in record time, wanting to start training with their new weapons.

Kurenai was starting to get the hang of her 'Straight Shooter' as Naruto had decided to call it. She still had some work to do, but she was getting there.

He didn't name the others, saying that they could do it themselves with their families.

Speaking of which, both the Hyuga and Aburame clans had been very impressed with the weapons, so much so that they had requested for Naruto to make more for them.

He had told them of a small ninja shop owned by a man named Higashi.

It turned out this was the man Naruto had made the deal to use his workshop with.

Naruto had given him the designs after he made them encase this happened, as long as he got 30% of the profits and that he tell nobody who made them, Higashi could remake and sell them to the two clans.

This applied to the clans as well. When Kurenai asked why he didn't want anyone to know he made them she could have sworn he was channelling his inner Nara when he said.

"Too bloody troublesome."

It turns out this was more than sufficient, as the clans were paying a small fortune for the weapons.

The Hyuga's had named Hinata's weapon 'The Hands of Kami', as they believed their eyes were a gift from Kami herself.

The Aburame had been a bit more modest and named theirs 'Wasp Point'.

Higashi and his daughter were making so much money from Naruto's weapons they were thinking of expanding the shop.

Naruto, after many times of being shot off the trees like a cannon, had finally got the hang of tree walking.

He even managed to learn water walking.

Eventually team 8 started doing missions again.

Thankfully Naruto had not done anything to the clients, seems the word had gotten out and none dared to do anything to raise the boy's ire.

They were currently stood in the Hokage office, after just returning tora to the daimyo's wife.

He was looking at their mission record to decide if they were ready for a C rank mission.

"Well... everything seems to be in order, I see no reason-"

Before he could finish the doors to the office slammed opened and Kiba stormed in, followed by the rest of team 7 walked in.

"Hey, Hokage-sama, can we _please_ get a C rank now. These D ranks are driving me and Akamaru crazy!"

After an apology from Kakashi for Kiba's rudeness, team 7 noticed team 8 stood in the room staring at them. Kakashi's eye lingered on Naruto for a moment before moving to Kurenai.

"Sorry Kurenai-chan, hope we didn't disturb you."

Before Kurenai could answer she was drowned out by Naruto.

"Duck ass! Dog piss! Pinkie! How you been!"

Everyone in the room sweat dropped at this except the three gennin, who were silently steaming at the names.

When they had calmed down the Hokage spoke.

"hm... Well team 7 does have the necessary number of D ranks to take a C... How about this, I was just about to give team 8 here a C rank, what would you say to a joint mission?"

The two sensei's looked at each other for a moment before nodding.

"Very well, seeing as team 8 were here first Kurenai will be team leader. The mission is to protect a bridge builder named Tazuna while he travels to wave country and until he finishes his bridge. The client will be here shortly."

No sooner had he said this then a old man walked into the room on unsteady feet, he had a beard, glasses and smelt like sake.

He looked at the gennin and scowled.

"I pay good money for a ninja guard and you give me this? And what the hell is the mummy grinning at... eh?"

At these words four loud smacks were heard. Looking around the room team 7 saw the Hokage, Kurenai, Shino and Hinata with their hands on there faces.

And Naruto's grin taking on a sinister edge.

XXX

**Hope you liked it. Let me now what you think. :)i'm thinking of changing the name, let me know what you think.**

**R&R**


	7. The Horror Hidden Behind the Grin

**Here's the new chapter, let me know what you think. And thank you for all of the reviews. :)**

XXX

**Disclaimer****- I own nothing ** :(

XXX

Chapter 7- The Horror Hidden Behind the Grin

Both team 8 and 7 were stood at the front gates of Konoha, waiting for Tazuna to show up so they could leave.

After what Tazuna had said the day before the Hokage had quickly dismissed them and told them when to be here to go.

The two teams were keeping their distance from each other, mostly because of Naruto.

Speaking of Naruto, both Kurenai and Kakashi were worried what he would do, his track record speaking for itself.

They knew he wouldn't actually _kill_ Tazuna, but beyond that they didn't know.

They didn't have to wait long; right on time they could see Tazuna heading their way.

He had the same clothes and smell as the day before, but he was able to walk in a straight line.

His eyes were red and he was clearly suffering from a monster hang over.

As he approached Kurenai cast a nervous eye over to Naruto. He was just stood there, grinning at Tazuna.

Not breaking his stride the old man walked right past them and through the gate.

Nodding to their teams Kurenai and Kakashi followed after him.

They were about an hour away from the village when Naruto started to walk next to the old drunk.

They spoke in low voices for a moment when Naruto pulled out a small silver flask.

Handing it to Tazuna, he took the lid off and had taken a swig before anyone could stop him.

Giving the flask back to the boy he stood there a moment, all eyes on him. Then his eyes went wide.

He opened his mouth and they could all see smoke coming out.

It was shortly after this that all the strength left his legs and he fell over.

Bending down and lifting the old man onto his shoulder, laughing the whole time Naruto started to continue heading towards wave.

Walking up to her student Kurenai asked.

"What the hell was in that flask Naruto?"

This caused Naruto to laugh louder, before answering.

"Don't worry; he'll wake up in ten minuets. I gave him my home made hangover cure. Ha-ha, did you see the smoke?"

All the ninja present just sweat dropped at the insane boy's antics.

"Naruto, if this is to get rid of his hangover then why in the name of Kami is he unconscious? What the hell is in that stuff?"

Turning around and walking backwards so he was facing them Naruto got a thoughtful look on his face.

"Well... let me think. A few herbs, some spices, wasabi, chilli powder... Oh! And some strange fish I found in the lake at the training grounds."

Again they all sweat dropped.

Luckily for them they were getting used to Naruto, well... as used to him as one could get anyway.

They were actually surprised when, exactly ten minuets later, Tazuna's eyes shot open and he started to run around holing his throat.

After being given water, he turned to Kurenai and said in a dry voice.

"What the hell did I just fucking drink!"

Shaking her head, she just said.

"You don't want to know."

It was then that Naruto made his appearance.

"So... drunk, how's the head."

Turning to face the boy to yell at him, Tazuna suddenly realized that his hangover _was_ gone.

Without saying anything Tazuna started walking again, not looking at Naruto.

As he passed Kakashi they could all here him mumbling about stupid mummies and not warning him.

XXX

That night they had decided to set up camp in a small clearing about thirty feet away from the footpath.

Not much had happened since Naruto had so kindly... helped, Tazuna with his hangover, though the old drunk had refused to say anything since.

It was shortly after they had finished setting up their tents that they noticed that Naruto didn't set one up for himself.

Sakura, being the ever curious person she was, took it upon herself to ask him where his tent was.

The answer shocked them all and even got Tazuna's attention.

"Don't need one. My body produces so much raw chakra that it converts any I don't use into energy. I don't actually need to sleep more than an hour or so a week if I don't use any."

None of them knew what to say to this, to have so much chakra that you didn't need to sleep was unheard of.

"erm... just how much chakra _do_ you have exactly?"

Thinking for a moment Naruto considered how best to answer.

"Well, according to the old man... about thirteen times more then any Kage known to have ever lived. But I can't actually use most of it because I can't control it."

Even Tazuna was shocked at this. He might not be a ninja but even he knew not to mess with a Kage.

They all sat in silence after that, staring into the smokeless fire.

After a few more minuets of this, Naruto reached behind his back and pulled out his violin.

Without looking at any of the others in the clearing he started to play.

The music was soft and gentle, calm, the complete opposite of the one playing it, Naruto's face taking on a serene look as he played.

They sat and listened to the boy play, watching the fire as it seemed to dance in the night.

They were spellbound, none could move as they listened.

But as the night went on they knew that they needed to go to sleep. One by one they all got up and went to their tents to sleep.

The sound of Naruto's violin the last thing they heard as they drifted off.

None of them saw the single tear that trailed down Naruto's face as he played into the night.

XXX

The next day they had all woke up to the sight of Naruto, leaning over a small pile of dead rabbits.

After they ate and packed up camp they were on there way.

The atmosphere was a lot calmer today, they were spread out in a loos formation and you could hear Sakura talking to Tazuna about wave country.

It was then that the two jonnin noticed the puddle in the road ahead.

The sight of it made Kurenai's blood boil. Such a poor attempt at a genjutsu.

Looking at each other, the two sensei silently agreed to let the gennin handle it.

They didn't have to wait long; as soon as they past the puddle two men in brown cloaks jumped out and wrapped a battle chain around them.

The gennin and Tazuna turned around just in time to see their sensei fall to the ground in bloody peaces.

"Two down..."

"...Six to go."

After saying this, the two ninja started to run toward them, chain at the ready.

Team 7 froze at the words, not knowing what to do.

Luckily, team eight did.

Shino and Hinata were in front of Tazuna as soon as they saw what happened and Naruto had moved to intercept, pulling out his scythes from on his back as he went.

Before the two ninja had went two meters towards them he was there.

With his back turned to the others they didn't see his grin turn predatory, but the demon brothers did.

It stopped them in their tracks. This... boy... had the same grin as _him_.

They were brought out of there thoughts by the insane giggling and words laced in killing intent.

"Let's have fun, don't die too quick."

That was all it took to anger the brothers, who did this kid think he was!

Yelling in rage, the two ran straight at the boy, intending to wrap him in their chain.

But before they could a kunai pinned it to a nearby tree.

As they struggled to get the chain free Naruto turned to Sasuke.

"Don't interfere with my fun! Do that again and I will rip out your eyes and shove them up your fucking ass!"

None of the gennin knew what to say. They had never seen Naruto like this, his grin was still in place but his voice was hard.

But that wasn't all. When he turned to face the group they all saw his features taking on an almost demonic look. His teeth were longer and sharper and his eyes sank back into his head.

Turning back to his pray Naruto was just in time to see them detach the chain from there gauntlets and charge at him again.

What followed was one of the most... odd, kinjutsu battles any of them had ever seen.

His grin stretching painfully large, Naruto switched the scythe in his left hand to a reverse grip and started to spin while moving to meet them.

Every time one of the brothers got within striking range they would be pushed back and before long they were on the defence instead of Naruto.

As his spins got faster and faster they had a harder time to block and dodge.

Small cuts started to appear all over their bodies and there movements started to get more and more sluggish.

Ten minuets into the fight and the demon brothers dropped to the ground, there entire bodies littered with small, paper cut like marks.

When he saw that they couldn't fight anymore Naruto stopped his rotations, he was a bit unsteady on his feet for a moment but quickly got over it, put his scythes away and tied them up with ninja wire.

Seeing that Naruto was finish the two thought dead sensei stepped out of the woods.

After explaining how they had gotten away with the **substitution **Jutsu they turned to congratulate Naruto, only to see him positioning the brothers in a way that they could see each other.

When they were about to ask him what he was doing he spoke.

"Now, which one of you is the brain... you look like the man with the plan. So, you going to tell me why you attacked us?"

The only answer he got was the man spitting on the ground at his feet.

Naruto's grin turned malicious and without saying a word he turned to the other brother. When he was within arm reach he spoke again.

"I was hoping you would say that."

Lifting his hand up for all to see he made his fingers change, turning into long, thin, worm like creatures.

Seeing what the boy was planning Kurenai quickly cast a genjutsu on the gennin and Tazuna so they went blind.

But she forgot to make them deaf so they could all hear the man's muffled screams as Naruto lowered his hand to his head and the worms made their way into his mouth, nose and even under his skin.

They could see his skin start to move as the worms spread.

Staring in horror at his younger brother the ninja could only watch as the lines moving under his skin seemed to go into a frenzy.

Then, without warning, he stopped screaming and his entire body except for his head exploded in a shower of blood.

Turning back to the, now terrified ninja, Naruto slowly made his way over, grinning insanely.

"ALL RIGHT ALL RIGHT! I'LL TELL YOU ANYTHING YOU WANT!"

For the next few minuets he told them everything, about Gato, Zabuza, everything he knew.

When he was done Naruto took out one of his scythes, walked up to him and slit his throat in such a way that it took him several minuets to bleed to death. When the light left his eyes Naruto used his scythe to cut of the head.

When he was done Naruto took a sealing scroll from his bag and sealed both the severed heads into it.

The blood on his clothes seemed to melt into them and within minuets he was clean.

Kurenai and Kakashi just stared at Naruto, not sure what to think. It was the first time either of them had seen Naruto's bloodline in action, and it scared them what he could do with it.

Walking past Naruto Kakashi did a quick fire Jutsu to get rid of what was left of the bodies.

Kurenai waited until there was nothing left before she released her Jutsu.

After a quick talk with Tazuna they decided to continue the mission.

XXX

For the next few hours before they set up camp for the night no one said a word. Every now and then they would sneak glances at the blonde when they thought he wasn't looking.

None of the gennin knew exactly what Naruto had done but they knew from the screams it was bad. Kiba could still smell the blood that clung to Naruto like a blanket.

Shortly after they finished setting up Naruto left.

About an hour later he came back, hair wet and with a dear slung over his shoulder, the smell of blood still strong but from the dear instead of him.

They all watched quietly as Naruto sat down on a near by rock away from the fire and started to skin and prepare the meat from the dear with a small knife he had got from his bag. Every so often throwing a piece into the wood to unseen animals that had been attracted by the smell of blood.

It was a clear night and the moon was full, casting an eerie glow on the insane boy as he did his work, humming to himself as he went.

When he finished that he went on to stripping the bark off of several branches to cook the meat over the fire.

Not being able to stand the silence anymore Kiba spoke in a quiet voice, drawing the attention of all those present.

"What the hell did you do to them back there? They only had small cuts. Why did they stop?"

Naruto, turning to face the dog like boy, his usual grin in place, answered.

"Have you ever got a paper cut?"

Seeing the boy nod his head he continued.

"They hurt don't they? Something so small, yet they can hurt as much as a kunai to the gut. Imagine having your entire body covered in them, your face, arms, legs, torso... small cuts all over your body. What do you think would happen?"

It was Sasuke that answered first.

"It would start to slow you down, then the more cuts you get the more pain. You can't fight if you are too focused on the pain."

Turning his grin to Sasuke Naruto nodded.

"Exactly, and when the pain gets too much your body stops on its own, leaving you completely vulnerable."

This time it was Kakashi to ask the question.

"Where did you learn that? I've never heard of anyone fighting like you did, the spinning, the precise aim so you only broke the skin when you cut. It seems like the perfect style for capturing an opponent while causing the most amount of pain, while at the same time it could be turned into a full on offensive at a moments notice, capable of quickly overpowering anyone that doesn't know how to counter."

Naruto just nodded at the assessment of his style.

"Yep, sounds about right. I'm still working a few bugs out of it, but that pretty much sums it up... and I didn't learn it, I made it."

This didn't surprise team 8 as much as the others, they had gotten used to Naruto and the way he seemed brilliant one minuet and like an idiot the next.

Nothing more was said for a while after that. Team 7 were a bit confuse at Naruto's somewhat, subdued, attitude. In the short time they had known him he had never been this... calm.

He still let out a giggle from time to time, but other then that nothing.

While they had been talking Naruto had put the meat on the sticks and started to cook them, the smell filling the camp.

When they were done Naruto handed them out and sat back down on the rock from earlier.

When he had finished his own meat he put the stick down and pulled out his violin again.

He had just started playing when Sasuke spoke.

"Can you teach me your style?"

Naruto didn't stop playing, levelling his gaze on the young Uchiha.

Kakashi was about to tell Sasuke that he was being rude when he was stopped by the blonde.

"Sure, why not. We'll need to get you some weapons to use until I can make you something but I don't have a problem with it. Actually, I think I have something here you can use."

Putting down his violin and reaching into his bag, Naruto pulled out a scroll. Unrolling and putting his hand on one of the seals, a moment later there was a puff of smoke and in his hands were two beautifully crafted katana.

The blades were only two foot long, with seals carved onto their length from tip to handle. They had no guard and the handles were wrapped in a fine red silk. The sheaths were made out of wood that had been stained black.

After giving them a quick inspection, Naruto through them over to Sasuke.

Catching the blade Sasuke's eyes widened at the skill shown in the making of them.

He turned back to Naruto when the boy started speaking again.

"They were one of the first things I made. The seals make the metal strong and the blade shape should work for you just fine."

Sasuke just stared at the weapons in his lap. Looking up at Naruto he nodded and said just two words.

"Thank you."

Naruto just nodded at him, then, picking up his violin started to play again.

Just like the night before, they all fell asleep to the sound of Naruto playing his violin.

XXX

**Hey, hope this was ok. I wasn't sure if the fight with the demon brothers was good enough but let me know what you think and as I said before Sasuke is not an arrogant dick in this story. Next chapter is Zabuza, so hope you are looking forward to it. Also, there will be a pairing for Naruto later on, but I am keeping it a secret until it is shown *evil grin*, and a big thank you to Exo10 for telling me about those mistakes. :)**

**R&R**


	8. The Demon and Meeting the Family

**For those that were confused by the tear last chapter it was mostly to show that he dose still have emotions. I decided to make his violin his main way of expressing them. Sort of like he isn't as insane when he is playing, that and when he explains something he made. Hope that clears it up a bit, thanks for reviewing and enjoy the new chapter :)**

XXX

**Disclaimer****- I own nothing ** :(

XXX

Chapter 8- Demon and Meeting the Family

The next morning, after they had finished the rabbits Naruto had killed, the two jonnin sat the group down and explained about Zabuza.

Needless to say, Naruto was the only one grinning at the end.

"S-so you're saying he's a demon?" Asked a slightly shaking Sakura.

Turning to his student Kakashi replied.

"Pretty much"

An air of depression started to leak out of the gennin.

But this didn't last long.

"Potato!"

This caused them all to sweat drop. Turning to Naruto Kurenai asked.

"Should I even bother to ask?"

"Probably not"

Shaking there heads they returned to the conversation.

"Anyway, as we were saying. When Zabuza shows himself you all stay with Tazuna while Kurenai and I fight him. You will not engage Zabuza, if something happens to us you run, understand."

The last part was directed at Naruto.

"That's stupid."

Raising his one visible eyebrow Kakashi motioned for Naruto to continue.

"If this guy is as strong as you say then how can we outrun him if he kills both of you?"

That stopped both of the older ninja in their tracks.

He was right.

After that they started to plan what to do if both the jonnin failed and continued on their way to wave.

XXX

They had crossed the river about an hour ago and so far everything was going fine. At least no one had tried to kill them on the way across.

Naruto had taken to walking on his hands instead of his feet shortly after they got off the boat.

Ever since the demon brothers they had started to be a lot more formal in the way they guarded Tazuna. Currently they were set up in a circle formation around him, Kurenai and Kakashi at the back, Naruto at the front and the others at the sides.

"Naruto, I think you should walk on your feet again, we could be attacked at any minuet."

Pouting, Naruto did as he was told and started to walk normally.

It was a few hours later when they found themselves in a thick mist that made it hard to see more than ten foot in any direction.

They knew instantly that it was Zabuza; Hinata could see the tiny particles of chakra mixed in with the mist.

All that they were waiting for now was for him to make his move.

The mist caused a big problem though, not only did it make it hard to see, but according to Kurenai it made it almost impossible to cast her genjutsu, something about the chakra in the air messing with it.

This meant that when he did make his move, Kakashi was on his own.

They continued on their way, pretending that they weren't waiting for an attack.

Then Kakashi heard it.

The sound of something moving though he air at high speeds. Grabbing Tazuna he yelled.

"GET DOWN!"

Instantly they all hit the floor, heads down. Except Naruto, who had jumped up instead.

As he was coming back down instead of landing on the ground he found himself spinning through the air on a giant sword.

"Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

Eventually he stopped when it struck a tree and got stuck.

"That was fun!"

Getting off the sword he wobbled for a moment, but before he cold regain his balance he was kicked hard in the back towards his team.

"Hey! That wasn't nice!"

"Tell someone who gives a dam."

Zabuza was tall, as tall as Naruto, but unlike Naruto he was covered in mussels. He didn't wear a shirt, just grey and black cameo pants, grey arm warmers and his slashed head band slightly tilted to one side.

His voice was low and slightly muffled by the bandages that covered his face.

But Naruto only saw one thing.

"Dude! What happened to your eyebrows?"

Even with the current situation all those in the area face planted in the ground.

When Zabuza picked himself up he had a tic mark on his forehead.

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST SAY YOU MUMMY!"

"Your one to talk!"

The two stared at each other for a moment, and then both burst out laughing.

None of the others knew what to make of it, one minuet they were at each others throats, and then they were laughing together.

When they had both calmed down Zabuza wiped a tear from his eye and said.

"You're all right kid, for a gennin. But I've got a mission. Hand over the old man and you can all walk away."

"No can do no brow."

Silently nodding his head at the boy Zabuza turned to Kakashi.

"So are we going to do this? Or do you want to trade insults for a bit."

Taking out a kunai and lifting his head band, Kakashi just stared at the missing nin.

Without saying anything else the two met in a clash of steel, Kakashi with his kunai and Zabuza with his zanbato.

It was a few minuets later that Zabuza gained the advantage. Sending Kakashi into a nearby lake that none of them had seen through the mist and trapping him in a sphere of water. He then made twenty water clones and had them charge the group.

Running forward so that the real Zabuza would be in range Kurenai sent her sharp shooter toward him at high speed.

Unfortunately without using genjutsu it was easy for the missing nin to grab the blade and pull her too the water. Before she knew it, Kurenai was in the same predicament as Kakashi, only this time it was a clone that had her trapped.

At a silent command from their creator, the clones went speeding towards the gennin and bridge builder.

This time, unlike with the demon brothers, none of them froze, Naruto and Sasuke ran to meet the clones before they could get to the others while the gennin stayed to protect Tazuna.

Pulling his scythes from his back Naruto met the clones and started to spin.

Sasuke, not having the chance to use the swords fixed to his back, chose to use a kunai in each hand.

As he watched the two boys finish off his clones Zabuza sent a curious look at the blonde. He could tell there was something different about him, if he was honest with himself he reminded him of himself.

It was this thought that made him laugh.

"I've got to say, I didn't think you wimps in Konoha had it in you."

He could just hear Kakashi's reply.

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't bullshit me Kakashi; I know what it looks like when someone has had their mind broken. That kid has the same look in his eyes that I did at his age. The skills, the attitude, even the smile. You people have the makings of a true monster in that boy."

He got no answer to this, which made him laugh again.

But what he didn't realize was that he was so caught up in his conversation with Kakashi that he didn't see Naruto spin his way over to him and his captive.

Just before one of the scythes slit his stomach open Zabuza jumped back away from the young psychopath.

As soon as the Jutsu was released Kakashi sent a kunai at the clone that held Kurenai, destroying it, before he turned to resume his fight with the real Zabuza.

Before the two could start again Kurenai grabbed Naruto by the hood on the back of his straight jacket and jumped back to the group.

The fight didn't last long after that, both ninja sent a water dragon at each other and Zabuza was sent flying into a tree.

Slowly making his way to the downed Zabuza, kunai in hand, Kakashi prepared to make the finishing blow.

He never got the chance.

Before he could finish what he started three senbon were seen sticking out of the missing nin's neck. His eyes widened before going blank.

Putting the kunai away Kakashi stepped to the body and checked for a pulse. When he found none, he turned his head to a random tree and said.

"Thank you for the assistance, hunter-san."

Before anyone could ask who he was talking to a masked ninja jumped out of the tree and moving towards the body.

They had on a sae blue battle kimono, with their long brown hair tied up in a bun.

The mask was mostly blank, except for the eye holes and the Kiri sign on the forehead.

Nobody noticed the grin on Naruto's face stretch wider as the hunter passed him.

Nodding at Kakashi the hunter bent down to pick up the body and, without saying a word, shunshined away.

Pulling down his forehead protector to cover his eye, Kakashi turned to the group.

"Well done you guys, great team work, and thanks Naruto, you saved my life. Now, if one of you could carry me the rest of the way to Tazuna's house, I'm going to sleep for a bit."

And with that Kakashi fell to the ground, unconscious.

Running over and checking her fellow jonnin, Kurenai let out her breath and said to the others.

"It's all right; he's just suffering from chakra exhaustion. A few days and he will be fine."

Before anyone could say anything, Naruto walked up and grabbed Kakashi by his feet. Before they could ask what he was doing, Naruto started to drag him the way they had been going before Zabuza attacked.

When he was a few meters away he turned back to the group. They were all just stood there, staring at him.

"What?"

XXX

About an hour later they arrived at Tazuna's house.

Kakashi was being carried by Sasuke and Kiba, who had taken him after Naruto had wanted to drag him all the way there.

They were all sat around Kakashi, who had been put in a spare room in Tazuna's house. He had regained consciousness a few minuets earlier.

He had just finished telling them about how his eye used a lot of chakra, which was why he had chakra exhaustion.

"At least now that Zabuza is out of the picture, I doubt we will have anymore ninja... to worry...about... Naruto, is there a reason you're laughing like that, or is it just you again?"

Part way through his talk Naruto had started to role around on the floor, banging his hand on the floor and holding his side.

"Hahahaha... you... ha... you actually believe... hahaha. That Zabuza is dead... hehehe!"

This confused the others in the room, when Naruto had calmed down Kakashi asked him what he meant.

All he said was.

"That wasn't a hunter nin."

Both Kakashi and Kurenai's faces took on a contemplating look. Then, something clicked in to place.

Kurenai slapped a hand to her face and Kakashi just said.

"Shit"

Turning to the still confused gennin Kurenai exsplained.

"Hunter nin's are required to remove the head and destroy the body of any missing nin's they kill, no exceptions outside of a battle field."

Nodding his head Kakashi continued.

"But the one that took Zabuza's body didn't. They took him away. We can only assume that they were working together and the fake hunter put him into a near death state. This means they will be back."

The gennin got scared looks on their faces at his words.

"Naruto, if you knew about the hunter, why didn't you say anything?"

"You were dead on your feet, Kurenai still couldn't use her genjutsu and the rest of us are gennin. Why do you _think_ I didn't say anything?"

Nodding his head at the logic, Kakashi moved on.

"Fair enough. Now, we need to discuss what we are going to do. From the injuries he gained from our fight and the stress from being put into a near death state, Zabuza should be out of commission for about a month. Tazuna, how long will it take for you to finish your bridge?"

Thinking on it for a moment, the old man said.

"A little over a month."

Nodding his head, Kakashi went on.

"Right, which means we are almost guaranteed to run into him again. We have a month. It's not much, but it's something."

Nodding her head, Kurenai spoke.

"From now until then, we will be taking shifts, two of you will be training with me and Kakashi, two will be guarding Tazuna and the other two will be guarding Tazuna's family. We can switch every two days."

They all nodded their heads at this.

"Potato!"

Again they all stared at Naruto, who just shrugged.

Shaking his head at the strange blonde, Tazuna said.

"I just want to thank you for all your doing for us, if it wasn't for you I would never have made it this far."

"Don't worry about it you old drunk, if we didn't help you then we wouldn't be any better than Gato."

Everyone in the room nodded at this, agreeing with the crazy gennin.

XXX

They were all sat around a table in Tazuna's house with his daughter Tsunami, and her son Inari.

Tsunami was a beautiful young woman in her late twenties with shoulder length black hair and a gentle smile.

Inari on the other hand, had an air of defeat surrounding him. He had a plain white shirt underneath a set of green overalls.

His brown hair was covered by a white hat and his skin was very pale, obviously he didn't spend much time outside.

No one said anything as they eat the small meal. They felt a little bad that they were eating so much of the family's food when they had so little.

As soon as he finished, Inari ran upstairs to his room without saying a word to his mother.

Turning to the ninja, Tsunami apologized to them all.

"Sorry about him, he was never able to get over Kaizar's death."

Seeing the questioning looks on their faces, Tazuna explained about how Kaizar had opposed Gato and had been publicly executed.

It was a sad story, and it got to all of them, even if they didn't all show it.

After a few minuets of silence Naruto stood and went to the front door.

Seeing he was going Kurenai asked.

"Naruto, where are you going?"

He didn't turn to face them, just looked over his shoulder with his usual grin on his face.

"The roof"

Without saying anything else he left.

Those left in the room said nothing.

Then they heard it, Naruto's violin.

Like all the other times they heard him play it was a soft, sad melody.

Tsunami was shocked, this being the first time she had herd the young boy play. It was a beautiful sound, but it didn't seem right to her for someone that hadn't stopped smiling since he had got there to play it.

"Why does he play such sad music, he seems like such a happy boy."

All the other people in the room stared at her for a moment before Kiba said.

"Happy, he's fucking insane!"

They all nodded there heads at this, which caused Tsunami to frown.

"That's not a nice thing to say about someone."

Shino took it upon himself to explain what they meant.

"I'm sorry Miss Tsunami, but I think you misunderstood. We weren't insulting him. He is actually insane. He spent the last five years in a mental institution. He was released a few months ago to become a ninja."

Both Tsunami and Tazuna were shocked to hear this. But it was Tazuna that asked the next question.

"If he is insane then why the hell is he a ninja?"

Both jonnin shared a look before Kurenai said.

"There are certain things that we are not at liberty to saying, I'm afraid this is one of them."

With that said they all just sat there for a while listening to Naruto playing.

And he was still playing when they all went to bed.

XXX

**Hopefully this is alright; let me know what you think. :)**

**R&R**


	9. The Laughing Ragdoll

**Sorry about the wait, I had a lot of work for collage and didn't have time to type, hope you like this chapter :)**

XXX

**Disclaimer****- I own nothing ** :(

XXX

Chapter 9- The Laughing Ragdoll

The next morning when they woke they were all surprised at what they found Naruto doing in the kitchen with Tsunami.

Like when they had been travelling Naruto had been hunting while they slept, but whereas before he had caught a few rabbits and a dear, last night he had caught what seemed like the entire forest that surrounded the area.

The room was full of dead rabbits, about twenty different birds and five dear.

The two were in the middle of skinning and plucking the carcasses and cutting up the meat.

None of them knew what to make of it. They all just assumed that when they got here he would stop hunting.

When he saw them all just stood there staring his grin grew.

"What?"

Stepping forward, Kurenai explained their confusion.

"Naruto... why did you go hunting? I could understand when we were travelling but why now?"

He just started laughing.

"Ha ha ha! Gato has a stronghold on the whole island, Tsunami here hasn't been able to shop for decent food for a while and now that we are all here she didn't have enough food. So I went hunting."

Again, none of them knew what to say to this. It had never occurred to them that Tsunami couldn't shop for food.

Tazuna was nearly in tears at what the blonde had done.

For the next hour they all sat and helped, except Kakashi and Inari. While they were doing this Kurenai thought about the plan. She realized it was not a good idea to leave any of the gennin unsupervised.

So as there were working she told them all her changes. They would still be in teams of two but she would go to the bridge with Tazuna's guard, while Kakashi would supervise the training. The other thing was that Kakashi would need to stay within hearing distance of the house encase anything happened.

They all agreed and the jonnin told them the teams for the foreseeable future and what they would do first.

Kiba with Shino would be the first to guard the bridge with Kurenai, Sakura and Hinata would be the first to train with Kakashi and Sasuke along with Naruto would look after Tsunami and Inari.

About an hour before they set off for their respective assignments, Tsunami asked if it was ok for her to go into the village to try and find any vegetables that she might be able to buy.

After considering it for a moment Kurenai agreed that Naruto could go while Sasuke stayed to watch the house and Inari.

This did not sit well with the Uchiha, but he just nodded his head and agreed.

An hour later Tazuna and his guard for the next two days set off for the bridge while Kakashi took Sakura and Hinata just inside the woods for their training.

The three stayed in the kitchen to finish as Inari sulked in a corner of the room.

When they were done with the animals Naruto took all the organs that they couldn't use outside and dumped them in a circle around the house.

Watching him Tsunami asked what he was doing.

"Feeding my friends, I met a small pack of wolves when I was hunting and made a deal. I spread out some food for them and they will help guard the house. Nice bunch, after they tried to kill me they were very sorry. Hehe."

"You can talk to wolfs... wait did you say they tried to _kill_ you!"

"I can communicate with most animals, with my bloodline to change my body all I have to do is alter my vocal cores and a few parts of my brain, simple."

"What's a bloodline?"

"Something that only I can do."

"And the trying to kill you part."

Naruto just shrugged and started doing back flips until he hit a tree.

"Ow"

Giggling as he stood up Naruto went back into the house.

"See what we meant last night when we said he was insane?"

Looking behind her Tsunami saw Sasuke a few paces away. Not saying anything, she turned to head back to the house with a worried look on her face.

XXX

Naruto and Tsunami were walking down the road towards the village. They hadn't really talked much since the whole wolf conversation. She just didn't know what to say to the young boy. Over the last few years she had seen a lot of things, like men and women killing themselves and there families just so they wouldn't suffer. Or on the rare occasions that Gato and his men returned one of the women they took and they came back as empty shells.

But Naruto was different.

He had this aura around him. At first she had mistaken it for happiness, but after she talked to the other ninja she realized that it was his insanity.

Whatever made him like this it was so bad that you could practically see it.

It made her sad to look at him; he seemed like such a nice boy, a little... ok a lot strange, but still nice.

He was walking a little way in front of her, hands folded behind his head.

A few minuets later they were entering the town.

A lot of people had lost their homes over the last few years because of Gato.

Many of the houses were falling apart, or in some cases already fell down.

The streets were full of people, both young and old, and if you looked carefully you could see some of them were dead.

Tsunami tried not to look around at the people lying in the street.

Naruto on the other hand looked at everything with a smile on his face.

After wondering around for a while they finally found a stand that had some only _slightly_ out of date products.

It was then that Naruto said something that shocked her.

"This reminds me of when I was little, rotten food at high prices, the smell of hopelessness in the air, or that might actually be that guy over there. I think he's starting to go out of date to."

Tsunami didn't know what to say to this. Konoha was supposed to be the nicest place to live in all of the elemental nations, how could this remind him of his childhood?

Before she could ask him what he meant Naruto had walked away.

XXX

It was on their way out of the village that Naruto noticed a building that stood out from the rest.

Unlike those around it this building was not in disrepair.

It wasn't very good to look at but it was in one piece, had a fairly new paint job and a front door, which was more then could be said for most.

"Hey, Tsunami-san, what's in there?"

Following his line of sight her face took on a mixture of hatred and fear.

"That's one of Gato's buildings. He made it for his thugs. It's were they take the women they find in the village that they take a shine to and..."

She didn't finish, she didn't need to.

Then she saw a strange look on Naruto's face, it was like he was struggling to keep his grin.

Without saying anything he started towards the building, leaving her where she stood as the people around then all watching on silently as he crossed the street towards the building.

When he came to the door Naruto picked up his left foot and slammed it into the closed door, which flew off its hinges, and walked inside.

The inside was nothing but a big room with sofas and beds. To one side of the room there were several women chained naked to a wall of all ages, the oldest looked to be in her late thirty's and the youngest being around his own age.

Even though it was the middle of the day the room was full of Gato's thugs, about fifty, all with a woman.

The air reeked of sex and fear, it was almost enough to make the young boy gag.

After the thugs got over their shock they started to get up and surround Naruto. When they had him covered on all sides a very large, very fat man stepped forward.

"You's got a death wish or somin?"

His words were slightly blurred, he was obviously drunk.

It was then that the thugs saw something that hadn't been seen in five years.

Naruto stopped grinning.

The air in the room seemed to get colder and all the thugs took a step back.

He didn't say anything, just stood there, looking around the room with cold, calculating eyes.

When nothing happened the thugs started to get their confidence back, the fat man from before walked up to Naruto, but because of the young boy's height he was only a few inches taller then the boy.

"Maybe you's didn't hear's me. I's said, you's got a death wis-ah"

He never finished.

As soon as the man had gotten close Naruto had thrust his hand forward and through the man's stomach.

He was still alive, but in a lot of pain. All the thugs in the room were shocked.

Leaning forwards Naruto put his mouth next to the man's ear and said loud enough for all of them to hear.

"You. Have. No. Idea."

Without saying another word Naruto gave a sharp pull and ripped out a long white object from the man's body. The man gave one last shuddering breath, and then fell over.

In Naruto's hand for all to see was what was left of the man's spine and yet Naruto didn't show any reaction, his face stayed impassive the whole time, until he dropped it.

It was like someone had thrown a switch in his head. Slowly a smile grew in his face, and then it turned into a grin.

They could hear the giggles in his throat as they became full-blown laughter.

Then he started to change.

XXX

Outside a small crowed had gathered, but they couldn't see inside because none of them dared to get closer.

"Tsunami!"

Turning around to see who called her Tsunami saw her father running to her side, Kurenai, Kiba and Shino right behind.

"Dad!"

"What the hell's going on, one of the villagers came to the bridge screaming about something happening."

"It's Naruto, I don't know what happened. One minuet he was hear and then he was kicking the door down."

At the mention of Naruto, Kurenai pushed Tazuna out of the way and grabbed Tsunami by the shoulders, her eyes wide.

"What is in that building?"

With a shaking voice Tsunami told her what she told Naruto.

Kurenai's eyes widened even more in understanding.

Then they heard the laughter, followed by the screams of terror.

"Shit!"

XXX

It was like every other time he changed, the pain, the feeling of every cell in his body screaming in agony.

Oh how he loved it.

As the men watched Naruto started to get thinner and taller, but his body stayed the same size. His arms and legs seemed to be stretching. His clothes melded into his skin and turned into a patchy brown, cloth like material. His eyes changed into big, round, black buttons that looked like they had been sewn onto his face. Lastly his mouth sewed itself together into a malicious grin that stretched across his whole face.

When he was done changing he towered over all the thugs at about eleven foot. His arms as long as he was tall and trailed along the floor.

The only way any of them could describe him was a giant ragdoll.

They could still hear him giggling, although it was muffled by his lips being sewn together.

No one in the room moved until the doll reached behind its back and showed them all the black, serrated scythes it now held.

When it moved it was like watching a puppet show, its limbs were boneless, turning its head a full 360' to look at each of them.

The dam broke and all the thugs through themselves at their weapons.

What happened next was a mass of flying limbs and blood. The ragdoll seemed to be just that, a ragdoll, it could bend in any way it wanted, twisting and bending around the thugs as they tried desperately to kill it.

It never stopped giggling the whole time they fought and with each swing of its arms another thug would fall with limbs missing, but none of them were dead.

Before long there was only one thug left standing, he was nothing special, brown hair and eye's that were filled with fear.

The doll was covered in blood from all the other thugs that lay around them.

He was frozen to the spot as the doll made its way over to him on wobbly legs.

But it didn't even turn to him.

It walked over to the girls chained to the wall. They shrank away from it in fear as it reached out, only to cut their chains with its scythes.

One by one the doll cut the girls free and watched as they ran out the door with all the others.

The thug saw his chance when it had its back to him and ran forward and stabbed it in the lower back with his knife.

The ragdoll made no sign that it could feel the knife.

Slowly it started to lean back, it leaned so far that its head was in front of the thug upside down.

Falling back on his ass the thug tried to crawl away but stopped when the dolls mouth started to force its way open.

"Tell... Gato... I'm... coming... for... him."

Its voice was ruff, like dry leafs rustling together.

The thug just nodded quickly and ran out the door in a panic.

Standing back up straight the doll looked around at the men lying on the floor groaning in pain.

Seeing them suffer brought another giggle to the dolls throat.

"Naruto?"

Turning its head again the doll saw a crowd gathering outside the building, stood at the front was Kurenai, Shino and Kiba, along with Tazuna and tsunami.

Turning the rest of its body to face the group the doll slowly made its way over and stopped a few feet away, its head tilted to one side as it stared at Kurenai with its button eyes.

"Can you still understand me?"

Nodding its head slowly at her Kurenai let out a sigh of relief.

"Good, now I need you to cancel your shift, ok?"

She spoke slowly, making sure each word was clear.

It nodded its head but before it changed back to Naruto it turned to the thugs in the room. Forcing its mouth open again, but this time, instead of speaking it blew out a thick, black ash with embers floating in it.

Kurenai could feel the heat coming from the ash from were she stood in the door way as it filled the room. They could all hear the screams of the thugs as they were burned alive by the heat, then nothing.

Turning back to the crowd the doll made its way towards them and out the door. The crowd all backed up when they saw it walking towards them.

When it was out of the building they could all clearly see the thick layer of blood that coated its body.

Slowly it started to turn back into Naruto. All the people stared at the boy in shock. Like the doll he was covered in blood from head to toe and had almost the exact same grin on his face.

"I regret nothing."

With those three words he fell face first into the road.

XXX

When Naruto woke up he found that he was in a small room, the same one that they kept Kakashi in when he had fainted.

Getting up he found that he was in a clean white shirt and black pants. He still had his bandages on, thankfully, but he still wondered where his clothes were.

Heading down stairs he found all the Konoha ninja along with Tazuna and Tsunami, who was holding his freshly cleaned clothes.

Taking the clothes from the woman with a nod he went back up to change.

When he came down a few minuets later they all just stared at him.

Looking at each in turn he said.

"One fine day in the middle of the night,  
>two dead men got up to fight;<br>Back to back they faced each other,  
>raised their swords and shot each other."<p>

They all face planted.

After getting back up Kakashi spoke.

"Naruto, what you did was reckless. You could have been killed."

Naruto just laughed at this.

"I wish"

The room went deadly quiet at his words, until Tsunami asked.

"What do you mean you wish? Don't you even care if you live or die?"

"Nope"

Tears filled her eyes when he said this.

"So how long was I out?"

Kurenai was the one to answer this time.

"2 hours"

"Why did you do it?"

They all turned to Tsunami again, they all knew what she meant by **it**.

Turning to face her Naruto got one of his rare real smiles.

"Some people need to die. What they were doing was wrong, I hate people like them."

Turning to face the gennin Naruto continued.

"It's like I said, the things I hate are never around for long."

After saying this, his grin came back. Nodding to himself Naruto headed for the door.

"Where are you going?"

"Roof."

Without another word he left the room.

And just like the night before a few minuets later they heard him playing his violin.

Getting up Tsunami wiped her eyes and turned to Kakashi and Kurenai.

"I don't know what happened to make him like this, but I think I have an idea. Did you know that people say that Konoha is the best place to live in the elemental nations? If that was true then why when we were walking around town did he say that it reminded him of when he was young?"

Everyone in the room was shocked at this, except Kakashi and Kurenai.

Both jonnin looked away, unable to meat her eye.

"That's what I thought. I saw your face today Kurenai –san, when I said Naruto had gone into that place I saw the fear in your eyes. I don't know how things work in a ninja village, but whatever you did to him... well I hope you are all ashamed of what ever it was, because that boy has done more for this village then anyone since my husband died."

It was then that Kakashi looked up at Tsunami, his eye was so full of regret that it made her gasp.

"You have no idea."

XXX

**Hope this was ok let me know what you think of the rag doll :)**

**R&R**


	10. Drunken Spinner

**Thanks for all the reviews. Let me know what you think of this chapter. :)**

XXX

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

XXX

Chapter 10- Drunken Spinner

Hardly anyone spoke to each other the next morning, none of them really knew what to say.

Naruto and Tsunami were talking in the kitchen about different ways to cook the meat he had caught.

The older woman was going out of her way to learn as much about the boy as possible. She didn't ask about his past, not wanting to bring it up encase it scared him off.

"So Naruto, how do you know so much about hunting?"

"It's what I do at Konoha for food."

Tsunami stopped washing the dishes to look at Naruto when he said this.

"What do you mean?"

All the others in the room looked at him from the corner of their eyes waiting for an explanation.

"I live in a forest. Nice place, no one goes there because of the fence."

Shortly after that Kurenai and Kakashi took there temporary teams and they were left alone in the house.

After what had happened the day before Kurenai decided that it would be best for them not to leave, which everyone but Naruto agreed with.

At some point, through unspoken agreement, Naruto was put with Tsunami while Sasuke would guard Inari. Sasuke didn't have a problem with this because Inari never left his room.

For the entire morning Tsunami would ask Naruto questions. Sometimes she would get answers, other time nothing. One thing she did notice was that when he explained something he got very serious.

There was the occasional mad moment, like when he started juggling knifes, badly, but she soon got used to it.

If there was one thing Tsunami learned it was that Naruto was smarter then he looked, the way he explained things in such detail. It was amazing.

But there was no denying he was insane.

Sometime she would here him talk to himself under his breath, or he would just start laughing at nothing.

At one point she could have sworn that she saw him cut himself on the arm with a knife out of the corner of her eye. But when she turned to look at him fully there was no sign of there ever being one.

It was the afternoon when Tsunami finally asked him about the day before. She wasn't planning on bringing it up, but something had been bothering her.

"Naruto, can I ask you something about yesterday?"

Seeing him nod she continued.

"What was that thing you became? I've never heard of a ninja doing something like that, it looked like something out of a nightmare."

Turning to face her completely he grinned.

"That's _exactly_ what it was."

Seeing that she didn't understand Naruto just laughed and went on.

"Remember when I said I had a bloodline, something that only I can do? Well that was it. I can become anything. The only limitations are my chakra and my imagination, that and a high healing factor. The thing you saw yesterday, that 'ragdoll', was from one of my nightmares."

Tsunami was shocked. To be able to do something like that was incredible.

"Why use a nightmare, why not an animal or something like that."

"I use my nightmares as inspiration. I let my enemy's feel true fear before I kill them."

Tsunami really didn't know what to say to that.

"Can I see?"

Nodding his head Naruto lifted up his hand. Slowly, the bandages melted into his flesh and were replaced by thick, wiry black fur. His fingers stretched and his hand grew to about the size of his head. Thick, claws grew at the ends of his fingers curved at the tips into hooks. When it stopped Naruto's hand was completely changed into an animalistic claw.

Tsunami just stared at it for a long moment; she didn't actually see him change the day before and was fascinated.

Reaching out her hand she stopped just centimetres from touching it.

"May I?"

Again he just nodded his head, never taking his eyes off her face.

Closing the distance between their hands she was slightly surprised by how soft it was. It felt just like a dog's coat. The claws were razor sharp, perfect for tearing flesh from bone.

The whole time she was looking at her hand Naruto was watching how she would react.

"Does it hurt?"

He grinned insanely at her question.

"It is the second most painful thing I have ever felt."

With that he pulled his hand back and started to walk away to do a perimeter check, his hand changing back to normal as he went.

Before he left Tsunami asked one more question.

"What was the first?"

He just laughed and went outside.

XXX

They were all at the table for dinner. Naruto made it and had used the meet from several different animals to make something he called 'game stew'. When hearing it was Naruto's recipe the others were a _little_ scared.

At first Tazuna refused to eat it until Tsunami threatened to force it down his throat.

He could still remember the burning in his throat from the hangover cure.

No one but Naruto and Tsunami were eating; they all just stared at the bowl of lumpy liquid in front of them.

Seeing that they weren't eating Naruto put his spoon down and looked at all of them.

"Eat or I'll dye all your hair different colours while you sleep."

They grabbed their spoons and swallowed a mouth full before they could think it through.

All their eyes widened at the taste. It was good. The meat was tender and melted in the mouth, the seasoning was perfect and the broth was delicious.

Seeing their reactions Naruto laughed and started eating again.

None of them spoke as they ate; even Inari seemed to be enjoying the meal.

When they were all finished they all stared at Naruto before Kurenai asked where he learned to cook like that.

"Trial and error, first time I tried cooking I couldn't shit for a week."

Nodding there heads weakly they all went to the sitting room while Tsunami washed the dishes, except Inari, who went to his room.

A few minutes later Naruto pulled out a small orange book from his back pocket and started flipping through the pages at a fast pace.

When he didn't stop Sakura asked what he was doing.

Without taking his eyes away from the book he said in a flat tone.

"Reading"

The pinket was confused when he said this.

"But you're just flipping through the pages."

He didn't respond to this and kept flipping.

It was then that Kakashi noticed the title of the book and his eyes widened.

"Naruto... where did you get that book?"

"Your bag"

Oh, this was so not good.

Turning to Kurenai, Kakashi shrank back in fear; she was staring at him with fury in her eyes and a dark aura surrounding her.

But before she could kill him for corrupting her student Naruto got up from his chair and went over to Kakashi, book in hand.

For a moment Kakashi thought he would be like any healthy man and get down on his knees and cry tears of joy.

What he didn't expect was for Naruto to slam it down on his head so hard he saw stars.

"If I catch you reading this again I'll strip you naked, hog tie you, write pervert on your chest and throw you into a kunoichi only bathhouse. Understand."

To emphasize his point Naruto kicked the one eyed jonnin between the legs, causing all the other males in the room to wince.

Kakashi's eyes went wide and he let out a high pitched scream as he curled into a ball.

Nodding his head in satisfaction Naruto went to the door and left. When he was gone Sasuke walked over to his sensei to make sure he was ok.

Turning to Kurenai Shino asked.

"What exactly is in that book?"

Shaking her head and looking down at Kakashi, Kurenai wondered if it would be overkill to kick him herself.

"Something that if any woman sees you reading they will kick your ass. Though I am glad Naruto seems immune to the rotten thing."

Nodding there heads Kiba, Shino and Sasuke backed away from Kurenai.

XXX

The next day found Kakashi, Sasuke and Naruto at the edge of the forest that surrounded Tazuna's house.

Today they would be training, the girls would be with Tazuna and Kiba and Shino would guard the house.

Turning to face the two boys Kakashi told them what they would be doing.

"Ok, since Naruto agreed to teach Sasuke his fighting style I thought we could work on that."

Nodding his head Naruto gave Kakashi a piece of paper.

"What's this?"

"A list of things I need to start teaching him."

Shrugging his shoulders Kakashi skimmed over the list.

"Erm... Naruto, why do you need a rope, a rotten fish and a bucket?"

Naruto just grinned and made his way towards a tree.

**Ten minutes later**

Sasuke was starting to regret asking for the blondes help.

He was currently hanging upside down with his arms and legs tied so he couldn't untie himself and a rotten fish tied to his head. He could feel the blood rushing to his head and was starting to fell ill from the smell of the fish.

Walking up to the Uchiha, Naruto looked over all the knots and placed the bucket under his head. Kakashi was off to one side watching with a critical eye.

"Ok, everything seems to be good, now we can start."

Grabbing Sasuke's arm Naruto started to walk around slowly spinning him until the rope wouldn't turn anymore.

Having enough of the blonde making a fool out of him Sasuke yelled.

"How the hell is this supposed to teach me to fight you fucking asshole!"

"Calm down duck ass, you want my help or not?"

"I'm not sure anymore."

When he said this Naruto smacked him in the back of the head.

"Shut up, now the reason we are doing this is because you need to get so dizzy you puke."

This made Sasuke's eyes widen in sudden fear. He looked at the rope and then at the bucket underneath him.

"What the hell!"

"My style is all about spinning to build up momentum and use that to increase your attack and defence. The drawback to this is that it makes you dizzy when you stop. So, I'm going to start with building up your tolerance to motion sickness."

"Then why do I have a rotten fish on my head?"

"I made a bet with Shino that I could get you to smell like a rotten fish, but that's not important now, and remember to aim for the bucket."

Before Sasuke could yell at him again Naruto let go of his arm and he started to spin.

As soon as he let go Naruto darted away and stood behind a tree. Kakashi, seeing what he was doing asked why.

Naruto just grinned at him and pointed to the screaming Sasuke. As he turned Kakashi was hit in the face with Sasuke's puke.

"Ah... that's why."

When he turned back to the insane blonde he was rolling on the ground laughing.

"hahaha, he got you, hahahaha."

When Naruto had calmed down and Kakashi had cleaned himself off with a low level water Jutsu the two turned back to Sasuke. He was very pale and his eyes were unfocused, but as soon as he was back to normal Naruto did it again before he could speak.

This continued for the next 3 hours straight until Sasuke stopped puking and was able to yell at Naruto while he was still spinning.

The bucket was full and the surrounding area now had several puddles of sick. Kakashi had learned his lesson the first time and was able to avoid being splattered again.

Finally satisfied that Sasuke was used to spinning at high speeds Naruto went and cut him down with a kunai he had gotten from Kakashi. What he _forgot_ to do however was move the bucket.

As soon as he cut the rope Sasuke fell face first into the bucket, which caused Naruto to fall on the ground and laugh yet again.

When Sasuke got up and couldn't get the bucket of his head Naruto started having trouble breathing.

After a few minutes Kakashi took pity on his student and pulled the bucket off.

The young Uchiha just stared daggers at the blonde rolling around on the ground at his expense.

It took a full ten minutes for Naruto to calm down and he still couldn't help the odd giggle here and there.

"Right, now that you got use to spinning I think I should explain more about my style. Like I said earlier it requires you to spin to build up momentum but makes you dizzy when you stop, which is why I spun you around for the last 3 hours. It is because of this I named it the 'Drunken Spinner Style'. Ok, now there are two ways to counteract this style, one is to spin faster then your opponent to build up more momentum and the other is to spin at the same speed but in the opposite direction from your opponent, with me so far."

When they both nodded he went on. They had all sat down during the explanation, Kakashi because he knew it would be long and Sasuke because he was still a little shaky on his feet.

"Now the longer you are able to spin the longer you can fight using this style, but if you use it continually for too long it will take awhile for you to get over the dizziness. There are three forms to my style, the first is all about attack, the second is all about defence and the third is about subduing the enemy."

Again they nodded.

"Now the way I used it on the demon brothers was the third form. It is a more advanced form that requires grate kinjutsu skill to insure you only break the first layer of skin. I will not be teaching you this form."

At this Sasuke shot to his feet in anger and yelled.

"What, why not!"

"It wouldn't suit your style."

This calmed Sasuke down instantly, this Naruto he could stand to be around, calculating and serious. If he said this he would have a valid reason. Nodding his head for the blonde to continue Sasuke sat back down on the ground to listen.

"The way you fight is all about power, you use your strength and Jutsu to overpower your opponents as quickly as possible."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"No, actually it is perfect for a ninja; kill quickly and efficiently, in and out. But I made the third variation as a way to prolong the fight, causing the most amount of pain but not killing them. In essence it is a capture technique."

Sasuke thought about what Naruto said for a moment before nodding his head.

"I see what you mean, but then what are you going to teach me, the first?"

"Actually I'm going to teach you a bit of the first and the second; you never know when you will need it just in case."

This time it was Kakashi to nod his head in agreement.

"He's right, knowing both will only help you in the long run. You can still focus on one but even if you only know the basics of the other it might mean the difference between life and death later on."

"By the way, I will only teach you the basics and mechanics of the style."

This time Sasuke kept his calm.

"Why"

"Because if I show you the basics, you can build it up and make it your own. The Drunken Spinner is a lose style. It's all about quick, flowing movements and if I show you all the way's I use it, it might not be as effective. This way it will be perfect for_ you_. I said I'd teach you a style, well I changed my mind, and I'm going to help you make your own."

Both Kakashi and Sasuke were a little shocked at his words. He was not only willing to let Sasuke use his style, but was going to take the time to rework it just so it would work better for him. Then he said something that made their thought process come to a complete stop and their eyes to go wide.

"You know... now that I think about it this could be the perfect style for you, I mean when you activate your sharingan you can process movement better right? So in theory you could skip the side effects completely, or at least they would be less of a problem."

Both their minds when back into overdrive, he was right; when Sasuke's sharingan activated this could be the perfect style. It was a powerful style and the only thing that would be a problem was the after effects. But something was still bugging Sasuke.

"Why are you doing this? You created a powerful fighting style and now you're doing all this for me. We don't even know each other; actually, I don't even like you. So why are you doing this."

Naruto thought about that for a moment and when he came up with a good reply he answered.

"Because you asked me to."

"That's it, because I asked you to?"

"...Pretty much, but you're right. We don't know each other that well and I can tell you don't like me, not many people do for some reason... But I can tell you are full of pride and so for you to ask me for help must have been hard for you. And as for why I'm putting in so much effort to help you, well, if you have a strong fighting style then it looks good on me for helping you create it."

This made sense to the Uchiha. By teaching him this style Naruto could say he helped make it.

"Plus this is a good lesson for you. When you have your sharingan you will be tempted like so many Uchiha before you to rely on it to much. This way it shows you the benefits of hard work."

Sasuke didn't know if he should be grateful for the help or angry that he insulted his family. Fortunately he didn't have to decide.

"He's right, Sasuke."

Turning to his sensei Sasuke just stared at him waiting for an explanation.

"Take it from someone whose fell into that trap already. I became complacent with my skills and relied on the sharingan too much. It made me arrogant. Because of this I made a mistake that I can never take back..."

Sasuke didn't see Kakashi looking at Naruto out of the corner of his eye when he said this, but Naruto did.

The three of them said nothing for a few minutes, lost in their own thoughts, Kakashi of the past, Sasuke on his family and Naruto wondering if he could pat his head and rub his belly at the same time.

When the moment past Naruto stood up and looked down at the two.

"Anyway, like I was saying, I will teach you the basics of the style and let you do the rest your self. But I think you should do something else for the rest of the day. You still look ill. So I'll leave you with Kakashi and go do my own training. Later."

He was gone before Kakashi could say anything.

Letting out a deep breath Kakashi turned back to Sasuke. He was sill a bit pale, his hair had sick in it and for some reason he was still wearing the rotten fish.

"Ok, for the rest of the day we will be doing the tree walking exercise. "

XXX

They didn't see Naruto until it was time to go back to the house. When the blonde came back into the clearing it was to a tired Sasuke and Kakashi quickly hiding his book behind his back.

When they got to the house they were the last to arrive, as they came into the sitting room all eyes turned to them, or more specifically, Sasuke.

Without saying a word Shino walked over to Naruto and gave him some money.

Confused by the exchange Sasuke suddenly remembered what Naruto had said earlier about a bet with Shino.

Trying to be inconspicuous, Sasuke made his way over to a window and through the rotten fish into the lake outside, then turned back and glared at Naruto.

XXX

**Hope you liked it let me know what you think. :)**

**R&R**


	11. The Faceless Blacksmith

**Thanks for all the reviews. Let me know what you think of this chapter. I'm looking into getting a Beta but don't actually know how so if anyone could tell me it would be much appreciated :)**

XXX

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

XXX

Chapter 11- The Faceless Blacksmith

The next day training went more or less the same as the day before, but without the rotten fish and instead of tying him up Naruto just had Sasuke spin on his feet in one spot.

When he had been doing that for a few hours Naruto had Sasuke try and spin while moving towards a tree in an attempt to get him used to keeping his balance while he spun. This was a lot harder as it was no easy task to see while spinning and going in a straight line was difficult.

After another couple of hours of this Naruto decided that it was time to call it a day and set out to do his own training while Kakashi had Sasuke doing the tree climbing exercise again.

At one point Kakashi had tried to find the blonde to see if he could help him in whatever it was he was training in, but couldn't find him. Giving up he had gone back to supervise Sasuke as he tried over and over again to make it up the tree without success.

It wasn't until just before the sun went down that they saw Naruto again. He didn't even seem tired, but then again he never did.

Heading back towards the house Kakashi tried multiple times to get Naruto to tell him what he was doing and where he had been but every time the boy would just smile at him without answering.

After dinner all the ninja met up in the sitting room to discuss what had happened in the day and what they would be doing tomorrow.

The bridge was going well, but if Tazuna lost anymore workers they would start to fall behind.

Kakashi gave a quick summery of how Sasuke's training was going but explained how Naruto would go and do his own training and couldn't report on the blondes progress.

When Kurenai didn't say anything Kakashi guessed that this happened regularly and it wasn't just him.

At some point while they were talking Shino and Hinata took out their respective weapons and started to clean them for something to do.

When Kakashi and his team took notice of this they all moved forward to see. They had all heard about the new weapons of the Aburame and Hyuga clans, but not many people had actually seen them. They marvelled at the elegant tools of death and how much care had gone into the making.

Kiba, seeing his chance to ask about the weapons for his clan stepped closer with a smug look on his face.

His mother had been trying to find out who the craftsman was ever since they had been shown at a council meeting. All she was able to find out was that they were connected to a small ninja shop owned by a man named Higashi.

But despite numerous attempts at getting the old fool to talk he refused to say anything. His mother was desperate, as were the other clans of Konoha, to have their own weapons made by the mysterious weapons maker known only as the 'Faceless Blacksmith'.

"So these are the new famed weapons of your clans. They don't look like much, Shino's looks like a pipe. What harm could they do? I bet the guy that made them was just a fraud."

Both Shino and Hinata raised their eyebrows at the dog like boy's words and resisted the urge to look at Naruto in the corner of the room.

Standing up from his seat Shino went over to the log pile next to the unlit fireplace, picked up two large pieces of oak and made his way into the centre of the room. Putting the wood down for a moment the bug user fixed his Wasp Point to his arm.

Without saying a word, Shino through one of the oak logs into the air and, with speed Kiba could barely follow, thrust his arm forward. The pipe like weapon shot out of his sleeve and pierced the log. What shocked the young Inuzuka was that the log started to disintegrate before his eyes. When there was nothing left they could all see the bugs flying back to Shino from the pile of dust on the floor.

Turning to look at Hinata she gave a small nod and stood, her Hands of Kami already on. Bending and picking up the other piece of wood Shino through it at the waiting girl.

All Hinata did was raise her right hand, which had a light blue glow trailing along several of the seals carved into the metal, and tap the wood as it flew towards her which caused it to explode in a shower of splinters.

They turned their attention towards the shocked members of team 7 and Hinata explained.

"Both our weapons are designed to increase our clans fighting styles."

Getting over his shock Kiba got a contemplating look on his face. When he was done thinking he looked at them both with determination in his eyes. Forgoing being polite Kiba asked them straight.

"Who made them?"

This time it was Shino to answer.

"We are not at liberty to reveal the identity of the 'Faceless Blacksmith'. It was a condition made when we received the weapons, only our clan heads know who he is."

At his words Kiba lost his temper, slamming his hands on the side of his chair and shooting to his feet he stormed over to the quiet boy and grabbed him by the collar.

"Listen here you freak! It's not right that both your clans get special attention and it's not fair that you don't tell the other clans who _he_ is. You think that you can keep him all to yourselves? We all want a weapon made for us, now start talking or I'll fucking beat it out of you."

"I would suggest you release me. As I said I am not allowed to tell you anything and-"

"It's ok Shino, dog piss; if you don't release my friend in the next three seconds I'm going to strangle you with your own intestines."

Turning to face the blonde in his rage filled mind Kiba barely heard the fret.

"Shut your fucking mouth Uzumaki! This has nothing to do with you!"

Naruto's grin just widened at the dog like boy as Akamaru ran away from his partner and hid under a chair.

Walking over to Kiba the blonde, without saying a word hit him in the face, sending him across the room, the shock snapping him out of his anger.

"That's where your wrong _pup_. _I'm_ the Faceless Blacksmith shit brain."

At his words all of team 7 turned shocked expressions towards Shino and Hinata. When they reluctantly nodded their heads Kiba went very pale and stared at the insane blonde that was grinning down at him and said the only thing that he could think of.

"Fuck."

XXX

Flashback

XXX

Naruto was in a good mood.

He had just met his team and he had a feeling that they would be fun to work with. They all seemed like good people, so he wouldn't need to kill them later on, which was a plus.

Also he had just successfully snuck into an ANBU base and dyed all their uniforms bright orange. The look on their faces was priceless and he was glad he had a camera.

He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't realize he had wondered into a back alley of the market district of Konoha.

When he did take notice of his surroundings he found himself outside a small shop. It had an old wooden sign in the shape of a kunai hung over the door, the universal sign for a shinobi shop. The windows were so dirty that he couldn't see inside. He couldn't see a name anywhere and there didn't seem to be any other shops in the area.

His interest peaked; Naruto pushed the door open and went inside.

The inside was the same as the outside of the shop, dark and dirty. There was just enough light to see without bumping into anything.

The shelves were stocked with an assortment of different weapons from kunai to swords, but they all had a thick layer of dust coating them. In one corner of the store Naruto could see clothes and armour on display.

If he had to guess Naruto would say that this shop hadn't had a customer in a long time.

Smiling to himself at the thought Naruto made his way to the back of the room in hopes of finding someone.

And he did.

There, at the back of the room leaning on a counter was a large middle aged man. He was big, almost 7 foot tall with huge mussels and large hands. He had on a fin grey sleeveless shirt under a thick leather apron and thick pants. The top of his head was shaved and he had a thick black beard.

When the man saw Naruto he stood up and looked at the boy with hope in his eyes before saying in a deep voice.

"Please tell me you want to buy something."

Naruto wasn't surprised at the pleading tone; it seemed he was right about the shop not having much business.

"You got a smithy or do you order everything?"

The large man was surprised at the boy's question.

"It's in the back, why?"

When said this Naruto's grin stretched even bigger.

"I've been looking for one to rent out to work on a few projects of mine."

This got the man thinking, if h let the boy use his smithy he could charge him and make a bit of money, Kami knows he needs it.

"Names Higashi, and if you can pay I don't see a problem with letting you use my workshop."

Taking the man's outstretched hand to shake Naruto replied.

"Uzumaki Naruto."

Naruto had expected a lot of things when he told Higashi his name, insults and shouting being at the top of the list. But what happened was enough to shock even him.

Higashi's eyes widened and he let out a small gasp.

Without letting go of the young boy's hand the muscular man pulled him forward and hugged him.

Naruto stiffened at first, thinking he was being attacked, until he felt water falling onto his face. Looking up at the mountain of a man Naruto was shocked yet again when he saw the tears falling down his face.

"Thank you, thank you."

When Higashi let the shocked blonde go he let out a hearty laugh and explained.

"I never got a chance to thank you for what you did. You might not remember but five years ago you saved a girl from being raped in an alley not far from here. That was my daughter, Tenten; I've been waiting for five years to thank you."

Naruto just tilted his head to one side in thought.

"Short girl in a Chinese style dress with buns in her hair, looks kinda like a panda?

Higashi just laughed again and nodded his head.

"Small world, how's she doing nowadays?"

"She became a ninja, graduated last year. She'll be glad to see you, no one knew where you disappeared to, and she was worried something had happened to you. Where you been for the last five years."

Naruto just shrugged and said.

"Place called the school, and from the look on your face I'm guessing you are an ex-shinobi because that's the only way you could no about it."

True to his word, at the mention of the school Higashi went deadly pale before a sad look came onto his face.

Nodding his head the large smith said no more about it.

After a few minutes silent's Naruto asked if he could see the workshop.

Nodding his head again, Higashi led the young boy to a door behind the counter and down a corridor past several rooms until they came to the workshop.

It was a good sized room, about twenty feet by twenty and a lot like the shop it was dark and dusty. Again, Naruto could tell that it hadn't been used for a while. The tools were all neatly arranged on hooks on a wall and the furnace was good. The work counter was full of old broken kunai's and swords. On a wall at the back of the room were several different designs for weapons Naruto had never seen. He couldn't help but be impressed.

Seeing what he was looking at Higashi made his way over to the blonde.

"These were all my ideas, I had planned to make them one day, but after the Kyuubi attack my first shop was destroyed. When it was finally rebuilt I ended up back here and nobody even came. I found out that one of my old competitors had bribed the civilian council to have me put here to get rid of me, so I never had the money."

Nodding his head Naruto reached up and took down some of the designs.

There was a double bladed axe, a zanbato, and several more complex designs that he could just barely comprehend.

Putting them down he pulled out several peaces of paper and handed them to the old smith.

Curious, Higashi took the offered paper and looked over Naruto's designs. They were ruff around the edges, and some of them wouldn't be possible, but he was impressed.

Turning his gaze back to the blonde boy Higashi asked.

"You make these?"

At his nod the man grinned.

"Impressive. So what do you know about weapon crafting?"

"Strong theoretical knowledge, but no practical experience to back it up."

Nodding his head at Naruto's words, Higashi looked back at the designs in his hands.

"It shows. What would you say to me going over some of these designs with you, when we've got the bugs ironed out I'll show you how the furnace works, sound good?"

Naruto just grinned.

XXX

For the next few hours Naruto and Higashi were in the work shop, leaning over the designs he had brought and the ones on the wall.

It felt good for the old man to actually work again; he was always at his happiest when he was working on a new project. He had mist the feel of the paper and the satisfaction of seeing his work coming to life.

As the hours passed Higashi was more and more impressed with the blonde boy. The way his mind worked allowed him to think outside the box, to think of things no one else had ever considered. And when put together with Higashi's years of experience they found the time flew by without them even noticing.

The boy was off his rocker, there was no doubt about that. But it was that touch of insanity that made his designs stand out.

At one point during their time together Higashi had made a shadow clone to make them tea. The clone court Naruto's attention and he asked the old man what it was.

After a quick explanation of the Jutsu and a demonstration they spent the next hour working on the shadow clone Jutsu.

It surprised Higashi that it didn't take longer for the boy to do it, but what really shocked him was that he made so many on his first try. The room was filled with clones. The amount of chakra needed to make even one clone was substantial, but from the looks of it Naruto had just made thirty like it was nothing.

Deciding to put this unexpected gift to use Higashi had the clones go around and clean the work shop while he and the original went back to the designs.

It was this sight that greeted Tenten when she came home. She had just finished a hard day of team training and was nearly dead on her feet.

Hearing her farther in the workshop surprised her at first; he hadn't set foot in there for years. So trying to be quiet she gently pushed the door open only to see a sea of blonde haired boys that looked about her age moving around the room cleaning.

Slowly making her way into the room Tenten found her farther stood at the workbench leaning over the shoulder of another of the blonde boys.

He was one of the oddest looking boys the girl had ever seen, with his long blonde hair and black straightjacket. But for some reason she could have sworn she had seen him before.

Shaking the thought out of her mind, Tenten walked over to her farther and looked over his shoulder, the fact that he didn't even notice her there showed how engrossed he was in his work; he never took his eyes off the papers in front of him.

Taking a better look at the paper she realized that they were weapon designs, complex weapon designs. Without realizing it Tenten had been leaning forward to get a better look. It was then that her farther noticed her.

"Oh, Ten-chan, when did you get home?"

"Just now, who's this and why art there so many of him, and while I think about it why is he even here?"

Tenten didn't miss the slight shine in her father's eyes when he turned to the boy at the desk that didn't even lift his head when she asked about him.

"That my dear Ten-chan, is Uzumaki Naruto, you've met him before, he came to ask about using the workshop we got to talking, and I guess we lost track of time. As for why there is so many of him I showed him a Jutsu from back in the day, he seems to have took quite well to it."

When her farther said she had met the boy Tenten got confused, sure he seemed familiar, but she would remember someone so... strange.

Seeing the look on her face Higashi laughed and tapped the blonde on the shoulder to get his attention.

It was then that she finally got a good look at his face and was unable to stop the gasp that escaped her mouth; all the clones had their heads turned away as she walked in the room so she didn't see his face until then.

His face was covered in thick white bandages, similar to the ones Lee always wore on his hand. But it was his sky blue eyes and huge grin that jogged her memory of that night five years ago.

She could feel the tears starting to run down her eyes at the thought of it, if it wasn't for the boy that had come to her rescue she didn't want to think what would have happened. It was the words he had said to her that night after he saved her that made her want to be a kunoichi.

"_I might not be around next time, so you better learn to save yourself. The world is full of damsels in distress; we need more women that can look after themselves._"

To never be a victim again, that was her ninja way.

Tears still running down her face, Tenten through herself at the still seated blonde and pulled him into a hug.

This time it didn't shock Naruto as much as when Higashi hugged him. Locking eyes with the man Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"I'm starting to see a pattern here."

This just caused the older man to laugh at the blonde as he was struggling to breathe as Tenten's grip around his neck tightened.

Deciding to take pity on the young boy Higashi put his hand on his daughters shoulder.

"Ten-chan, I think you should let the poor lad breathe."

At her fathers words Tenten released Naruto from her death grip and took a step back with a blush.

"Sorry."

Naruto fell to the floor and made a big show of sucking in big gulps of air before rolling around laughing at the girl's reaction, which caused her to blush even more.

"Don't worry about it, anyway I better be off, I'm starting missions tomorrow. I'll be back some time tomorrow so we can start working on my designs. Goodnight."

And with that he left, leaving a blushing Tenten and a smiling Higashi behind.

XXX

Over the next few weeks Naruto had taken to going to the workshop every day after his training and under both Higashi and Tenten's tutelage proved to be a quick learner.

It wasn't until a month into his lessons that he was comfortable with is ability's that Naruto had the idea to combine his research of seals with his weapon designs.

After he had given his team their completed custom weapons and he had got the attention of the clans word quickly spread of a mysterious new blacksmith working out of the Higashi shop. And when the Hyuga and Aburame clans announced their weapons to the public, ninja were flooding the shop.

Higashi and Tenten were constantly questioned about the 'Faceless Blacksmith as he had come to be known, something that had amused the three of them greatly because of Naruto always wearing bandages to cover his face.

XXX

End Flashback

XXX

The room was deadly quiet, no one knowing what to say.

Kiba was still frozen in place, staring at Naruto in shock. He might have just ruined his families chance to have weapons made for them.

Running up to the blonde Kiba through himself at his feet and practically shouted.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean anything by it, really. I just wanted to help my clan, please make us a weapon."

Looking down at the grovelling boy Naruto's face went hard, he still had the smile on his face, but it didn't reach his eyes anymore.

"Get up dog piss, show some pride. For Kami's sake have some self respect, you're a future clan head. Don't bow to anyone but the Hokage. As for the weapons, give me some fucking time. Do you know how much effort and time it took to understand the Aburame and Hyuga clan styles to make those weapons? I've been studying all the clans of Konoha for months."

When Kiba heard this he raised his head to look at Naruto's face in confusion.

"You mean... you were going to make something for my clan the whole time. But then why didn't you just say something to the clans, they have been desperate to find out who the 'Faceless blacksmith is for months!"

Shrugging his shoulders Naruto regained his normal grin.

"It was funny watching them all run around like headless chickens."

This caused all those in the room to sweat drop.

XXX

The next day it was Naruto and Sasuke's turn to guard Tazuna at the bridge.

It went without saying that the two boys were impressed with the sheer size of the bridge.

At some point in the day Naruto had taken to helping the workers by moving heavy rocks and equipment that would have needed to be moved with a makeshift crane.

Several people had left during the day saying that they had to think of their families. Tazuna wasn't happy, but he could understand.

That night, like every other night they all fell asleep to the sound of Naruto playing his violin.

XXX

**Sorry about the rusted ending but I didn't know how to end this chapter. Next Chapter will have a time skip.**

**P.S. it's my birthday tomorrow XD**

**R&R :)**


	12. To Know Suffering

**Hey, I was reading one of my reviews and someone made a good point, but I wanted a second opinion. Should I delete the first two chapters?**

XXX

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

XXX

Chapter 12- To Know Suffering

The next morning was...odd. There was no sign of Naruto for one thing.

The weather was good, if a bit windy, and they were all in a good mood.

Tsunami was in the kitchen preparing breakfast; Inari was sulking in a corner. Shino, Hinata, Kiba and Sakura were talking in the living room and Kurenai, Kakashi and Tazuna were discussing the progress of the bridge.

Then something happened that non of them would ever forget. It was one of those moments that engraves itself into your mind and you're never able to get it out.

And that moment was when Sasuke Uchiha, one of the most uptight people any of them had ever met, came down the stairs in a yellow sun dress.

The room was filled with stunned silence, no one new what to say.

Then, to everyone's shock yet again, Sasuke walked through the front door with a pile of chopped wood in his arms.

The two Sasuke's stared at each other for a few minutes, still no one saying a thing, then the Sasuke in the dress fell on the floor and started laughing.

Before their eyes the Sasuke on the floor started to ripple. When it was done there was Naruto, still rolling around on the floor.

"Hahahaha! Y-y-y-you should of haha s-s-seen your faces! Hahah."

XXX

Time skip- 2 and a half weeks later

XXX

The bridge was almost complete; Tazuna said that it would be done in about three days.

Sasuke's training in Naruto's Drunken Spinner style was progressing well; he was now actually using the katana and could fight, not very well yet, but he could fight. Naruto was actually impressed with him.

Kakashi was completely healed and it was decided that for the rest of the mission they would all be guarding Tazuna at the bridge. Kiba had asked what they would do about Tsunami and Inari, but the jonnin had assured them all that if Gato was going to try anything he would have done it by now.

They were currently all sat around the table eating dinner.

They were all talking about how their training had been going and planning what to do depending on the situation. Everyone was stressed, Zabuza would be making a move any day now and the wait was getting to them all. Well, except Naruto, he was as _happy_ as ever.

It was then, in the middle of the meal, that Inari stood up and started shouting.

"Why do you even bother? You're all just going to die anyway! No one can beat Gato, you should just leave!"

By the end of his outburst Inari was in tears and his voice had started to waver. They all stopped talking and stared at the young boy. After a moment Kakashi got up and walked over to him and placed his hands on his shoulders.

"Look, I understand that it may seem like that, but people like Gato are nothing more then cowards that hide behind their money. He may have a small army of bandits, but compared to a ninja they are all but useless."

When he finished talking Kakashi gave him one of his eye smiles and moved to sit back in his seat, until Inari through his food at the back of his head.

"Shut up! What would you know about our pain! In your big fancy village, sheltered from the outside world! You know nothing of suffering!"

The room went deadly quiet, all the genin turned to the enraged Sasuke. But before anyone could say anything to prevent the young Uchiha from leaping at Inari, Naruto started laughing.

It wasn't his normal, slightly insane yet pleasant laugh; it was a full blown bat shit crazy, call the people in white suits with the big needle kind of laugh.

Without saying a word Naruto stood up and turned towards Inari. Kakashi, worried that he might lash out at the boy moved to stand between them. But Naruto didn't move from his spot, instead he slowly reached up to his head and started to unravel his bandages.

When he was done there was a long trail of white bandages going from his neck line and piling onto the floor. The ninja all stared at Naruto's face in horror, except Kakashi, who got a sad look on his face and Sakura, who ran to the kitchen sink to throw up. Tazuna stared wide eyed at the blonde and took a long drag from a bottle of sake he had hidden under the table while Inari lost all colour from his face.

Tsunami didn't know what to think, at first she had stared in horror like the others, but that soon changed into a look of sadness. Naruto's face was nothing but one big scar; almost like it had been melted off and what was left of his skin was a bright red and white mess. You could see his teeth and gums through the two holes that used to be his cheeks and most of his nose was gone.

He said nothing, just stared at Inari with what now became a horrifyingly disfigured grin without the bandages to cover his face. Then something else occurred to the middle aged woman, something that brought tears to her eyes. When she had taken his clothes to clean them, she had seen that he had his whole body covered in bandages.

Satisfied that they had seen enough, Naruto started to re-wrap his bandages. When that was done the blonde turned to them, grin still in place. Sakura had come back, but still looked pale.

"On my seventh birthday a mob came to my house. They dragged me outside, tied me up with wire and beat me for I don't know how long. I was stabbed, strangled and beaten. I had my throat cut, my stomach slit and my eyes ripped out of my head. And you want to know the best part? I never lost consciousness. And I healed almost as fast as they hurt me. Then, to finish everything off, I was tired to a log in the middle of the street where they had built a bomb fire."

Here his grin stretched wider as he watched there eyes widen in understanding. Letting out a dark chuckle Naruto continued.

"Yep, that's right. After a nice little speech by the leader of the mob, four ninja with there faces covered lit the wood on fire around me. But yet again that wasn't the best part. You see, it turns out that my healing factor works at he same speed as a human body takes to burn. I was burning for three hours straight before the Hokage came and put the fire out."

He then turned to Tsunami and laughed.

"The most painful thing I have ever experienced. But don't just take my word for it, if you want more information you could always ask Kakashi, after all... you were their."

As he said this he turned to the masked man, whose eyes widened in shock before they became filled with sadness and regret.

"So you knew..."

At his words everyone but Naruto gasped and stared at the one eyed jonnin in shock.

"Of course."

Letting out a sign, the cycloptic jonnin locked his eye with Naruto's deep blue.

"That day was one of my biggest regrets. I got sloppy; let someone get the jump on me. By the time I came to it was too late. I'm sorry. More so then you can ever imagine."

At the end of his explanation Kakashi averted his eye to look at the floor.

"If I blamed you for what happened, I would have killed you the first moment I saw you."

Shocked at his words Kakashi turned to look at the boy, only to find him walking towards the door.

"Where are you going?"

He didn't get an answer until the blonde got to the door, stopped and turned to look over his shoulder at them all.

"To release some stress. Oh and sad sack, if you don't get your act together, I'm going to tie you upside down to a tree and show you how I started duck ass's training."

If it was possible Inari would have gone even paler, but instead he just went and hid behind his mum. Grinning to himself Naruto turned to go, but stopped again and turned to face Sakura.

"You once asked me why your dad asked for my forgiveness. Your mother was the leader of the mob."

The young pinket's eyes went wide at his words and she ran back to the sink to be sick again. But when they all turned back to Naruto he was gone.

Turning back to Sakura, Kurenai went over to comfort the girl as she cried on the floor.

XXX

Naruto was running through the forest to try and calm himself down. The boy had gotten to him. He knew that. The problem was that he could feel how close he had come to losing himself. He needed to get out, get away.

As he ran he could see the shadows of the creatures that ran with him, they were the only living things that stayed in the area as he ran. All the other animals had run away when they felt his presence.

They made no noise and stayed in the darker parts of the trees, away from the moon light. Every now and then he could see breath flashes of black fur, or yellow eyes.

He finally came to a stop in a fairly large clearing. It was then he noticed the moon was full and there were no clouds in the sky.

Turning back to the tree line his throat and head rippled for a moment, leaving his face looking more wild, almost wolf like.

"_Merry moon night, my brothers."_

Without making any noise seven of the biggest wolfs stepped out of the shadows. They all stood at the blondes shoulder in height when they were on all fours and had black fur; there well muscled legs showing that they were built for speed and power. The only exception to this was a slightly thinner and smaller wolf that had a pure white stripe running down his back from the top of its head to the tip of its longer then normal tail. It was this wolf that stepped forward.

"_Merry moon night pup, what makes you run so?"_

"_I needed to run._"

The wolf just nodded its head and turned away.

"_Will you hunt with us tonight?"_

"_Not tonight brothers, my head is not right, it would not be good for me to hunt with you."_

"_I understand...may the moon smile at you."_

"..._May the moon smile at you."_

Without saying another word, the wolves all turned and ran back into the shadows and Naruto let his face return to normal.

For the next hour Naruto just stared at the moon, every now and then he would here the cry of the wolves in the distance, closing his eyes for a moment before opening them and started screaming at the moon, which morphed into a terrifying roar.

XXX

The next morning found a young girl walking through the forest with a wicker basket under her arm. She had a pretty face and long black hair. She was wearing a pink yukata that hid most of her figure and her soft brown eyes were scanning the ground around her as she walked.

Then she heard it.

At first she needed to strain her ears but as she quickened her pace it got clearer and clearer. The most beautiful, yet mournful music she had ever heard. She could feel it in her heart, the pain and the sadness that reflected in those notes.

Haku soon found herself running in the direction of the music, desperate to find the source of the sound. But slowed to a walk when she came to what used to be a part of the woods. Some of the trees looked like they had been pulled out of the ground, while others had claw marks.

She had never seen anything like this, but the music was still calling to her. So, getting over her shock, she made her way through the wreckage.

A few minutes later Haku came to what looked like a natural clearing and stopped in her tracks. There, sat in the middle of the clearing playing a violin, was the blonde boy Zabuza had been talking about.

Not knowing what else to do she made her way to the centre of the clearing and sat next to the boy. He didn't stop playing, didn't even show any sign that he new she was there. But Haku knew he did. So she just sat there, listening. Eventually the music came to an end and, with slow movements, the strange boy put the violin away, though she didn't see where he put it, and turned to her with the same grin on his face she had seen the day they met.

"You play beautifully."

"You're a bit out of the way, for a _civilian_, so what brings you out here?"

Thinking quickly, Haku decided to tell a half truth.

"I'm looking for medicinal herbs for my friend, he was hurt and I have been taking care of him."

Nodding his head Naruto stood up and looked down at her.

"I think I saw something that might help you."

Getting up Haku was surprised when the blonde started to walk on his hands, then do flips, then back to walking on his hands. She couldn't help the giggle that came from her throat.

"What are you doing?"

Looking at her from his upside down position Naruto looked at her, confused.

"Handstand."

Giggling again Haku elaborated.

"I can see that, but why are you doing a handstand?"

"Why not?"

When he said this is grin spread wider over his face.

They didn't say anything for the next few minutes until they came to another, smaller clearing filled with different flowers, walking over to a patch of small purple flowers Haku turned to look at Naruto over her shoulder.

"My name is Haku, what's yours?"

"Naruto"

"That's a nice name."

Turning back to the flowers, Haku started picking the leafs off.

"Tell me, Naruto-san, are you a ninja?"

"Yes"

"Do you have a precious person back at your village?"

Seeing that he didn't understand Haku explained.

"I believe that for a person to be truly strong, they need someone to fight for, to bring out their inner strength. Do you have someone like that?"

Naruto laughed at this, taking a full five minutes to calm down before he could answer.

"I have no one, I have no true purpose. There is no one in that place that I would truly fight for. I would just as soon kill them as I would save them."

Shaking her head sadly Haku went back to picking the leafs.

"I see... that's sad. You must be very lonely."

Nothing was said for a while after that, Haku would move to different patches of flowers from time to time, taking different parts, until Naruto broke the silence.

"This friend of yours, is he your precious person?"

Smiling to herself Haku turned back to the blonde.

"Yes, he is very special to me."

Nodding his head, Naruto's grin stretched back over his face.

"Your friend is lucky to have such a beautiful girl such as yourself taking care of him."

He couldn't help but laugh as Haku's face turned red and she started stuttering. It took several minutes for her to calm down, but even then she still had a light blush.

They talked for another hour before Haku left to get back to her friend and Naruto to guard Tazuna.

"I hope to meet you again Naruto-san."

"I'm sure we will."

Turning her back to the boy, Haku missed the mischievous look that came to Naruto's face.

"I'm sure we will."

XXX

Naruto went straight to the bridge to meet up with the others, knowing that they would have already left for the day. When he got there he went straight to Tazuna and asked what he could do to help.

He didn't miss the looks he was getting from the others. Or that the old bridge builder couldn't meet his eyes.

So, in true Naruto style, he walked up to Kiba and hit him in the face with a fish, then turned away to start working. No one knew _where _he got the fish, or why he hit Kiba with it.

Getting up off the floor, face red with rage Kiba got right up in the blondes face.

"What the hell!"

"What?"

"WHY DID YOU HIT ME WITH A FISH YOU FUCKING HEAD CASE!"

The innocent look on Naruto's face didn't fool anyone.

"I don't know what you're talking about; I don't even have a fish."

That was when they realized he was right, the fish was gone.

Screaming, Kiba lunged at Naruto in an attempt to claw what was left of his face off. Faster then any of the other gennin could see Naruto grabbed the dog like boy's arms, stopping him in his tracks, much to the shock of Kiba and pulled him into a bear hug. Kiba was so shocked that he didn't even notice that Naruto had walked over to the edge of the bridge and dropped the young Inuzuka into the water below.

Clapping his hands together and smiling as Kiba shouted curse after curse at the blonde he turned to the others on the bridge and shrugged.

"I kept telling him that he smelt of dog piss; now he smells of wet dog instead."

Shaking there heads everyone got back to work. It wasn't until an hour later that anyone thought to help Kiba out of the water.

XXX

The next day when the two teams set off for the bridge there was no sign of Naruto, so they just went ahead.

Tsunami was going around the house cleaning when she heard someone at the door. Putting down the duster in her hands she made her way to the door, only to have it broken down just before she made it.

Stood in the doorway were two men with swords. One of them, the smaller of the two had on a purple hat and a cocky smirk while the other had no shirt and had multiple scars over his body.

Stepping forward the smaller of the two drew his sword and pointed it at her, the smirk never leaving his face.

"Gato would like to have a few words with you."

Backing away from the two men Tsunami made to run out the back door but wasn't quick enough. Grabbing her by the arms the two men dragged her outside kicking and screaming. Hearing his mother in trouble, Inari came out the house with a knife.

"Let go of my mum!"

The tow men looked at each other for a moment, then the man with the hat stepped forward, sword in hand. Tsunami was screaming for the boy to go back inside, but he just kept running straight towards the man.

What happened next was so fast that she almost missed it. Just as the sword was about to cut Inari's head from his shoulders a shadow came running out of the wood, shortly followed by six more. Before they knew what happened the man in a hat was rolling around on the ground screaming as he clutched the blooded stump that had once been his arm.

It was then that Tsunami heard a low growl behind her. Slowly turning around Tsunami came face to face with the biggest wolf she had ever seen, and its maw was covered in blood.

The thug holding her arm backed away as quickly as he could and raised his sword in a poor attempt to defend himself, never seeing the other wolf that was running at him from behind. The wolf was on him instantly, jumping on the thugs back and biting into the back of his neck, and with one quick shake the man went limp, his spine broken.

The thug with the hat was soon dealt with in a similar way and the area was filled with nothing but silence. Tsunami ran to her son and pulled him into a hug while shielding him from the wild animals at the same time. Then Inari said something that made her eyes widen in realization.

"Naruto was right."

That's right, Naruto had said that he met a pack of wolfs and that as long as they gave them scraps of meat they would help them. She couldn't help the laughter that escaped her throat as she cried into Inari's hair, thanking the blonde in her head over and over again.

XXX

**Haku is not the pairing, I will say that now. Let me know what you think of the chapter. :) **


	13. Parade of a Thousand Demons

**Thank you all for the wonderful reviews and I have decided to keep the first two chapters. I'm surprised that my fic is so popular, but happy. Let me know what you think. :)**

XXX

**Disclaimer: I own nothing :(**

XXX

Chapter 13- Parade of a Thousand Demons

The first clue that something was wrong was that the closer they got to the bridge, the thicker the fog became. The second was that when they got to the bridge, there was a pile of unconscious workers. Reacting quickly they all moved into formation around Tazuna, weapons drawn at the ready.

Sasuke took out his twin short katana and getting into a low crouch with his feet spread apart, ready to start his rotation. Hinata checked the straps on her gauntlets while Shino kept his hidden in his sleeve in case of a surprise attack and at the same time sending out his bugs to assess the area. Kurenai took out one of her kunai, having learned in their first encounter with the Demon of the Mist that her Sharp Shooter was not as effective without her genjutsu to support it. Kakashi and Sakura both took a kunai in each hand while Kiba got into his clans stance with Akamaru.

They stayed like this for several minutes, waiting for Zabuza to make his move, the mist swirling around them as they stood as still as statues.

Just when the tension was getting too much for them to take they saw two shadows appear in the mist, calmly walking towards them. The closer they got the clearer they became, until finally they were both fully visible, revealing them to be Zabuza and the Hunter-nin from before, standing together and confirming their suspicions.

The two opposing forces stared at each other for a moment, sizing each other up, until Zabuza stepped forward and locked eyes with Kakashi.

"This can all end now if you just hand over the old man."

The way in which he said this showing that he clearly didn't expect them to comply.

"It could also end now if you both leave."

No one moved throughout the short exchange of words, and they stayed like that for some time. Shaking his head the Demon of the mist turned towards the young hunter-nin standing next to him and gave him orders.

"The blondes not hear, so pick another brat to entertain yourself with while I fight Kakashi."

"I understand."

The reply that came surprised the Konoha nin, not the reply itself, but the fact that it was clearly female, and without another word they both vanished into the mist.

Sasuke, getting inpatient with the games, ran after them in the direction that he had seen both ninja disappear in an attempt to catch them before they could get too far, blocking out the shouts that followed him as he ran, but he was too slow.

He heard the sounds of battle behind him but before he could run back to help the others a senbon needle found itself imbedded into the lower part of his right leg. Gritting his teeth in pain, he pulled out the needle and turned around in an attempt to find the one that had thrown it.

But before he could find them another needle shot into his left forearm, then another into his right, realizing that he was a sitting duck when he stood still, Sasuke started to spin. It wasn't easy, the needles didn't stop and it took him a full minute to build up enough momentum to start countering.

One of the first things Naruto had tort him when he had gotten used to spinning was how to block. It wasn't like most styles, were each time you block a strike you come to a brief standstill, this kind of blocking required you to just skin the opponents weapon in order to redirect where it would hit. The blonde had tort him this by throwing rocks at him until he could block.

For several minutes Sasuke continued to spin and block most of the senbon that were being aimed at him. Then it stopped, just in time because the young Uchiha couldn't spin for much longer without stopping, and the hunter-nin came into view.

"Impressive, I see you have not been idol in the last few weeks. But it will not save you; you are not strong enough to defeat me at your current level. If you surrender now I will spare you."

The calm tone in which the hunter-nin said this infuriated Sasuke, it was the same tone _he_ used.

Sasuke didn't notice that his eyes had flashed red in the moments after what the hunter-nin had said, but Haku did. Taking that as her answer, she shook her head sadly and lifted her hands to perform hand seals.

The speed in which the hunter-nin preformed seals was enough to make Sasuke worried, he could barely see them. But what truly scared him was when the water on the bridge started to rise and formed into a dome of perfect mirrors made out of ice. Her Jutsu complete, Haku stepped back into one of the mirrors and disappeared.

Slowly walking up to the closest one to him, Sasuke reached out his hand to examine one, only to jump back into the middle in surprise when an image of the hunter-nin appeared in the mirror. As quick as he could the raven haired boy rushed through hand seals and shot out a good sized fire ball at the mirror in front of him. Then his eyes widened in shock when the smoke cleared.

There wasn't a scratch on the mirror.

Slowly the image of the hunter-nin appeared in all the mirrors and Sasuke was getting a very bad feeling.

"Theses are a product of my bloodline; I call it 'Demonic Ice Mirrors'. No one has ever escaped. You will be no different."

Before he could reply Sasuke found himself yet again being peppered with senbon. He tried his best to block them but they were faster than the last time and he couldn't get enough momentum built up to effectively block.

When they finally stopped Sasuke slumped to the ground, his legs no longer able to support him. His body was full of needles, hardly any flesh left unscathed.

Then he heard something that made him think that he had lost too much blood. In the distance, but getting closer every moment was a low whistling. He didn't recognise the tune but there was no mistaking that it was getting closer.

And then came out of the mist someone that made Sasuke both happy and caused him to slap himself in the face at the same time, of all the people that could have come to his rescue, why did it have to be _him_.

There, stood in all his glory with his usual manic grin on his face, was Naruto.

"Hey duck ass, you look like shit. Why did you let her hit you with so many pointy things, or are you just into that shit?"

Gritting his teeth Sasuke practically yelled.

"Shut the fuck up! Just help me already!"

The blonde brought his index finger to his lips and made a thinking face, then walked up to the still injured Sasuke.

"Ok."

And hit him in the back of the neck, forcing the boy to fall face first on the ground. Picking up the limp boy with one hand by the back of his collar Naruto then proceeded to throw the boy in the direction of the other Konoha nins, hearing a scream when the boy landed near them.

Nodding to himself the still grinning blonde turned back to the hunter-nin that had come out of the mirror to watch the exchange.

"That was a very brave thing you did, getting your friend out of harm's way."

"I told you already Haku-chan, they mean nothing to me, and I just needed him out of the way. Now, are you going to take off that mask so I can see your pretty face or not?"

Haku froze when the blonde used her name, but reached up and removed the mask none the less.

"How did you know?"

Naruto's grin stretched even bigger.

"Your smell, you smell of wild flowers and herbs. I knew you weren't a hunter-nin the first time we met. They always smell of blood."

Haku just nodded her head in satisfaction at his answer.

"So what now, I don't want to fight you, but I will for Zabuza."

Again the blondes grin stretched even bigger across his face.

"We don't need to fight, were about to be on the same side."

Seeing her confused face Naruto laughed.

"Did you really think someone like Gato would pay you? He's leading a small army here now to kill us all after we tire ourselves out fighting each other."

Haku's eyes widened at the boys words. She did have her suspicions about the man but Zabuza needed the money for his dream, so she had kept her mouth shut.

Before anything else could be said between the two the mist suddenly vanished, causing Haku to gasp. Turning to where they could hear the fight between Kakashi and Zabuza, the two were greeted with the sight of a badly hurt Kakashi running at an equally hurt Zabuza, who was being held in place by a pack of dogs, with a lightening charged fist.

Without thinking Haku crossed the distance and was stood in front of Zabuza, shielding him from the lethal blow and closed her eyes waiting for the pain.

It never came.

When nothing happened Haku opened her eyes and gasped at the sight before her. Naruto had followed her, but instead of getting in the way like she had he grabbed Kakashi's arm, stopping it inches from her chest. The lightening was all around him and he must have been in great pain, but he didn't let go. He just stood there, holding the shocked Kakashi's arm and grinning at her.

When the Jutsu finally ran its course the still stunned Kakashi stepped back and stared at Naruto in shock. Who then let out a loud burp, along with a large amount of smoke and laughed.

"That's a spicy meat-a-ball!"

If it was anyone else they would have been worried.

As Haku gently lowered Zabuza to the ground Kakashi turned to Naruto.

"I hope you have a _very_ good reason for this Naruto."

"Gato and a army of thugs are on their way to kill us all after we tire ourselves fighting each other, including no-brow and Haku-chan. They are no longer our enemies."

All but Haku was shocked at his words.

"Are you sure?"

"Yep, saw them with my own eyes. Their either drunk or retarded because they were talking about how it would be so easy to kill us."

It was at this point that Zabuza started to use every swear word ever used.

"That fucking little shit stain! When I get my hands on him I'm going to cut his balls off and make him eat them! How dare he cross me!"

Looking at the still downed Zabuza the blonde boy bent over his head and locked eyes.

"I just told you how, he's bringing an army. You should really learn to listen."

If he wasn't injured Zabuza would have strangled the blonde. But before anything else could be said Sakura let out an ear splitting scream. Turning to see what she was screaming about they were all shocked.

Standing next to Zabuza was Haku, with an arrow sticking out of her back between her shoulder blades. Catching her as she fell to the ground Naruto set her down on her front so as not to make it worse. She was very pale, almost completely white and had started to shake.

They all looked in the direction that the arrow had come from to find a short man with grey hair and sunglasses, stood in front of a small army of thugs. He was wearing what looked like a very expensive suit and the smuggest look on his face any of them had ever seen.

He turned to address the man stood next to him with a bow in hand.

"You missed, I told you to hit the blonde."

Stepping forward a few more feet, but not leaving the safety of his thugs, Gato turned back to face them, or more specifically, Zabuza.

"I knew you couldn't do it, some demon you turned out to be."

Turning his attention to Naruto he grinned.

"So you're the little pest that has been causing so much trouble. You killed my men and let those women go free."

It was then that the short man made the biggest mistake of his life.

"But no matter, I'll just take these three lovely women as compensation. I'm sure my men would enjoy a celebration after this is all over."

The cheers from the men were short lived. The air suddenly grew thicker and was getting harder and harder to breathe. The Konoha ninja backed away from Naruto as his killing intent became visible as a dark aura surrounded him.

His head was lowered so his hair was shadowing his eyes and the grin on his face looked so wide it must have been painful.

Zabuza was as shocked as everyone else at first, but then he let out a chuckle, and then that chuckle turned into full blown laughter.

"You did it now."

His voice shaking in fear, Gato turned his attention to Zabuza.

"W-w-what the hell are you talking about?"

"You wanted to see a true demon, well you got it!"

As Zabuza said this Naruto through his head towards the sky and let lose a roar. There was nothing human about this roar; it was too deep, too guttural. No human could make a sound like the one Naruto was making. It sent shivers down their spines and several of Gato's thugs turned and ran at the mere sound of it.

His eyes seemed to glow with an eerie blue light and his pupils had become fin slits.

Then, still roaring, he put his hands together into a cross shaped hand seal and with a large burst of smoke the bridge was filled with Naruto's, there were to many to even attempt to count, and one by one they joined their voices together with the original and roared.

And as one they stopped, leaving the bridge in complete silents. No one moved, no one breathed.

The words that left Naruto's mouth scared them all.

"**Parade of a Thousand Demons**."

He said it in no more then a whisper but they all heard him as clearly as if he had yelled it.

Without another word the Naruto's all started to ripple. They became creatures of all shapes and sizes, big small, fat and skinny. Some didn't even seem to have mouths. The rag doll was there, giggling. There were half animal and half humans as well. Things like tigers and wolves, and for some reason a small rabbit with sharp teeth and glowing red eyes. There was a huge, grey skinned, mammoth of a man that stood at over fithteen feet. Its entire body rippling with so much muscle it had trouble moving. A pink, human shaped _thing_, it walked on its hands and feet but had no fetchers. No face or definition to its body at all, almost like a blob in a human shape. There were creatures flying in the sky above their heads, some with scales and some with feathers, some that even had both.

They were everywhere, no matter where you looked there was something looking back at you with hungry eyes. And they were all giggling and laughing, as if there was a joke that only they could hear.

And stood at the front of them all, like a general stood at the forefront of his army was something that made all that looked at him shrink away in fear.

It was a young boy, no older then seven, with bright blonde hair and the bluest eyes any of them had ever seen. On each of his cheeks were three black whisker marks. He was wearing a tattered white t-shirt and a pair of equally tattered black shorts. He was the only one that wasn't laughing, he wasn't even giggling. He just stood there, staring at them with eyes that were too old for a boy.

More and more of Gatos men were losing it, but were too afraid of the monsters to run.

Then, as if they heard an unspoken command they all fell silent, no more giggling, no more insane laughter, just absolute silence.

_"Ring, a round the roses,_

_A pocket full of posies,_

_A-tish-yoo, a-tish-yoo,_

_You. All. Fall. Down."_

His voice was as soft as the chiming of bells, pure, innocent. Yet at the same time just as demonic as of the monsters that surrounded them, and at the word down, hell was unleashed.

It was like a dam broke, in one big surge the horde descended onto the thugs with the force of a tidal wave. Those that could fly swooped down and plucked the screaming men and carried them high into the air before dropping them back into the slaughter below.

The red eyed rabbit was sprinting from person to person, ripping the throat out of any it could get its teeth into. The grey skinned hulk was tearing men apart with his huge hands, roaring like a wild animal as the blood fell on it like rain. The pink blob was making quick work of anything that touched it, absorbing them into its body and getting fatter and fatter with each new person that it 'ate'.

Limbs were flying everywhere and blood was falling like a heavy rain. And in the middle of it all was the small boy, walking in a straight line towards Gato, who had been untouched by the creatures that had massacred his men like they were nothing.

By the time the boy stood in front of him they were all dead. All that was left was a few body parts and blood, so much blood.

Kneeling before the boy Gato begged.

"I can give you anything, money, power, women, anything you want!"

The boy cocked his head to the side, as if thinking about the offer.

"Anything?"

Seeing his chance, Gato stood up and moved closer to the boy.

"Anything!"

The boy slowly lifted his hands and put them on the frantic mans head, then leaned in closer so that only Gato could hear.

"I want your head."

All Gato could do was widen his eyes in horror before the boy gave a sharp pull and his head was pulled from his shoulders and as the body fell to its knees a fountain of blood erupted from the neck, spraying the boy and ground surrounding him.

The monsters all disappeared in a burst of smoke, leaving the boy standing alone in the middle of what was left of Gatos army. Turning, with the head of Gato still in his hands, the boy faced the shocked faces of the Konoha nin's and the villagers of wave, who had shown up sometime during the bloodbath.

As he walked toward them his body started to grow, until the original Naruto stood before them, still covered in blood.

He stopped a few feet away and tossed the head at the feet of the villagers.

"Some people need to die. I regret nothing."

And with those words his eyes went blank and he fell, landing between Zabuza and Haku.

XXX

**Hope you like it. :)**


	14. Some People Should Not Drink

**Hey, thanks for all the reviews. For theses wondering why Naruto faints so much it's because he uses a lot of chakra when he changes and although he has huge reserves he has next to no control. This means he wastes a lot and tires himself out. Hope that explains it. Let me know what you think of this chapter. :)**

XXX

**Disclaimer: I own nothing :(**

XXX

Chapter 14- Some People Should _Not_ Drink

They all just stared at the young blonde boy that lay on the floor in front of them. All had pale faces and some of them had been sick, but the shock didn't last long. Walking forward towards the decapitated head of their tormenter, Inari bent down and picked it up with trembling hands.

All watching thought he was about to be sick like so many others, but were surprised when instead he turned to the crowd, lifted the head in the air and yelled in joy. Soon others joined in and before they knew it they were all cheering and hugging each other.

While they celebrated the Konoha nin moved to look at the downed Naruto. He was breathing and if they didn't know better they would have thought he was asleep.

Haku was still alive, but hurt, from what they could see the arrow had missed her hart. Kurenai had applied a basic healing Jutsu that she had learnt to help stop the bleeding until they could get her properly treated.

Zabuza had sat up to watch the slaughter and they could see he was grinning through his bandages.

"To think, for years I thought I was a demon, this kid is something else."

Walking over to sit next to the missing nin Kakashi looked at the still cheering crowd.

"So what are you going to do now? You can't keep running, especially since the girl is hurt."

"What choice do I have? I can't go back to my village until that monster is dead and no other village would have someone like me, I'm wanted for trying to kill my Kage."

Something Zabuza said got the silver haired jonnins attention.

"What do you mean by _that monster_?"

"The Misukage went crazy and started killing whole families because they had bloodlines. My country is in the middle of a civil war. I was working as a missing nin to help the resistance, I've been giving them all the money I earned."

This surprised Kakashi. Zabuza, the demon of the mist, was trying to help people. Seeing the surprise on the man's face made Zabuza laugh.

"Look beneath the underneath, isn't that one of Konoha's favourite sayings."

"True, but for someone who killed an entire class of academy students, it seems odd that you would want to help anyone."

"And for someone that spends all their time reading porn you haven't been staring at any of the bouncing tits only a few meters from your face."

When he said this Zabuza motioned towards the crowd of villagers.

"How did you-"

"Your reputation precedes you."

They both laughed at that. Sighing to himself Zabuza turned to look at Haku on the ground, being tended to by Kurenai.

"I did it to prove a point."

Seeing the questioning look he was given Zabuza continued.

"Do you know what happened after I killed them all? They stopped using the traditions of the bloody mist. By killing those few, I saved hundreds."

Kakashi had never thought about that. It was true that after the incident with the young Zabuza they had changed the final exam.

"You could come back with us."

Both men jumped in surprise at the voice and turned to see Naruto sitting up and staring at them, grin and all.

"When the hell did you wake up?"

"Who said I was asleep."

"I really want to kill you."

"Join the club; I hear they serve dango on Tuesdays."

As the two continued to banter Kakashi decided to stop them before they destroyed anything.

"Naruto, what did you mean before."

Stopping mid insult Naruto turned to the masked nin and laughed.

"Section 42, paragraph 9 of the dealing with missing nin laws of Konoha state that in the case of a country in civil war a missing nin may seek refuge in Konoha and work out of the village until such a time as the war has been decided. He can come to Konoha and still be a ninja of Kiri."

Both men stared at the blonde in shock. Looking the boy up and down Kakashi finally asked.

"Where did you learn something like that?"

"I read the Konoha library."

"You mean in the library."

"No"

Without another word the blonde got to his feet and walked towards what was left of the thugs. The people seeing him stopped cheering to watch what he was doing.

Moving through the remains Naruto would stop and pick up a head or an arm and throw it into a pile. No one questioned him on this, just waiting to see what he would do. When he was done there were two piles on the bridge, one that was made up of the heads of the deceased thugs and the other of everything else.

Satisfied that he was done, Naruto turned to the forest and howled, no one seeing his face changing as he did. Within moments they heard a reply and turned just in time to see the seven wolves walking out of the tree line and towards the grinning boy.

The smaller of the wolves with the white stripe stepped forward and the two seemed to communicate. All any of them heard was growls. Seeming to be finished with his talk Naruto turned towards the villages, face back to normal. As he addressed them the wolves moved towards the pile of random body parts and started eating.

"Give them a rabbit a week each and they agree to stay and look after you."

None of them new what to say, it seemed too good to be true.

They quickly agreed and Naruto passed on the message.

Stepping forward Tazuna asked.

"What are you going to do with the ...heads?"

Narutos grin became sinister as he turned back to the other pile.

"Send a message."

XXX

And that's exactly what he did. For the next few hours Naruto walked around the village and placed each head on a stick. He did this until he ran out of heads and had surrounded the entire village. No one complain, and after a quick explanation from Kakashi they were actually glad.

It turned out that Naruto was performing an old ninja tradition. From what the masked man explained, Naruto was claiming the village as under his protection, meaning that if anything happened he was legally allowed to intervene. The reason he was placing the heads around the village was as a show of strength, showing others what would happen to them if they attacked. All that was left was for Naruto to make a signature and put it in the village. He did this by painting a smiley face on the village hall in red paint. The thing that made it stand out was that the smile was a grin that stretched across the whole face and instead of normal teeth it had fangs.

The idea was that as he became better known throughout the ninja world the safer they would be, and with the wolves moving into the area permanently they were sure that someone like Gato would never come into power in their village again.

Zabuza had thought a lot about what Naruto had said and agreed to come back to Konoha with them, mostly because Haku still needed medical care that he couldn't provide himself. She would be stable enough to move but they would have to be careful.

Sasuke had regained consciousness and was less then happy with Naruto, but was more then happy when he found out that his sharingan had activated. For the rest of the mission he could be seen activating and deactivating it to get use to how it felt.

The other gennin and Kurenai had been helping clean up the bridge and finish its construction, which had been speeded up by the workers Tazuna had lost coming back now that they didn't have to worry about Gato. When it was finished Tazuna had announced that it would be named the bridge of heroes and a plack was made with the names of all the people Gato had killed, including Kaiza.

The day after his death the villagers raided Gatos buildings and took anything of value. Expensive works of art, sake, anything that could be used was taken and the buildings themselves had been set up as temporary homes for those that had been living on the streets.

The night before they were set to leave for Konoha there was a huge celebration. The village was covered in decorations, from hanging lanterns to balloons of every colour. The air was filled with the sound of music and the streets were full of people. It seemed like the very air they breathed was full of joy and happiness and was spreading it around like a disease.

It was also on this night that they all learned a very important lesson, _never _let Naruto drink. They thought he was bad normally, but that was before they saw him drunk. It took a lot to get him drunk, he had drank about three tankers full of sake before he started acting strange, and by then it was too late. Kakashi and Zabuza had gotten the beating of their life's the next day for encouraging the blonde to drink so much.

Unlike most people when they get drunk he didn't get dizzy, he didn't slur his words and he was as aware of his surroundings as he was when sober. He did; however, seem to lose any sense of limitations he had, which until that night they didn't know he even did have. In one night he had painted the entire village bright orange, stole the clothes of every man in the village and replaced them with pink tutus, each with a small message on the back. Things like 'my other body is a temple' or 'takes five to party'. He dyed everyone's hair purple and used some type of permanent paint to paint all their faces like clowns. He had also super glued a rubber duck to Sasukes head.

When they found him he was upside-down in a tree hanging with a rope tied to his ankles, the only thing stopping them from seeing him naked the bandages he wore to cover his skin.

They had needed to stay an extra day just to get the village back to some semblance of normality.

When they did leave the whole village had gathered at the bridge to see them off, Tazuna, Tsunami and Inari at the front of the crowd. Both mother and son had tears rolling down their faces as they said there goodbyes. The only thing that stopped it from being a completely heart warming moment was that they had found out that Naruto had burned all the clothes he had stolen, meaning that all the men were wearing pink tutus. And they all still had the paint on their faces.

Throughout the whole exchange Naruto had never stopped giggling.

Just before they set out they all heard the howls of the wolves in the distance. They didn't see them, but they could all tell they were close. Stopping his giggling they all watched as Narutos face took on a more bestial appearance and answered the howls with one of his own.

After that they all set out towards Konoha.

XXX

It took a lot less time getting back to Konoha then it did getting to wave. Without having to pace themselves for Tazunas sake they could move at much faster speeds. They still needed to pace themselves because of Haku, but it was still faster.

Kakashi had sent a message ahead with one of his nin-dogs Pakkun, a small pug like dog with a Konoha headband tied around his head and a blue vest. The first time they had heard him talk in his deep tone Naruto had picked him up and started turning him over in his hands. When the small dog had asked him what he was doing the blondes answer was that he was looking for where the batteries went. This had sparked a small argument between the two as to weather Pakkun was a real dog or a toy.

When that was finally over Kakashi had given him a scroll to deliver to the Hokage, explaining about Zabuza and Haku so they wouldn't be killed on sight.

It took them two days to get back, and as soon as they were in sight of the village a full ANBU patrol surrounded them. One of them took Haku and disappeared in a shunshin while the rest stayed to escort them through the village. They received many strange looks as they were led to the Hokage tower, some people going as far as to point at them and laugh.

The reason for this was that the paint Naruto had used still hadn't washed off and Kakashi, Sasuke, Kiba and Zabuza were all wearing pink tutus. Lucky for Shino, he had been able to hide one set of his ninja clothes from the drunken Naruto.

The message on each of there backs seemed to inspire many a laugh from the people that watched them as they passed.

Kakashi's was 'pervert and proud'.

Sasuke's said 'I like ducks' with an arrow pointing up at his head.

Kiba had 'just got neutered'.

And Zabuza's was 'has anyone seen my eyebrows?'

By the time they got to the relative safety of the tower they were all glaring at Naruto who was close to rolling around on the ground in laughter.

They were both surprised and mortified when instead of being led to the Hokage's office they were taken to the council meeting room; the entire shinobi council was present. As they walked into the room they were met with stunned silence, but it didn't last long. As soon as she saw her son and the words on his back Tsume Inuzuka burst out into laughter.

When they had calmed her down the meeting started.

They explained everything that had happened on the mission, except the reason for their current state, and ended with Zabuza formally asking for asylum in Konoha for himself and Haku.

When they had finished Sarutobi stood up and addressed them.

"First of all, on behalf of all of us, I would like to congratulate you all on a successful mission, which due to unforeseen circumstances has been upgraded to A-rank. Second, we as a council except both you, Zabuza and your young charge into our village, provided you agree to a 6 month probation, you will be monitored 24/7 and will not be allowed out of the village during that time. Is that acceptable?"

Thinking for a moment Zabuza nodded his head.

"Very well, now there is just one more thing I would like to ask you. Why the hell, do you have your faces painted like clowns? And why, in the name of Kami, are you four wearing tutus?"

The six ninja looked at each other, then at Naruto, then back to the Hokage. Taking the initiative, Kakashi stepped forward.

"The night we were supposed to leave there was a small celebration, during which sake was provided. Long story short... Naruto got pisst."

The room was completely silent. Then all at once, they all started laughing, Naruto joining them, even the normally stoic Hyuga Hiashi was banging his fist on the table in laughter, much to the shock of his daughter.

It took them ten minutes to finally calm down and stopped laughing. Standing back up, Sarutobi turned back to the seven ninja in front of him, still giggling.

"I see... well that will be all, you can go."

Nodding there heads they quickly left, hearing the people in the room burst into laughter yet again.

XXX

The paint faded after a week, much to the relief of team 8, 7 and Zabuza, who had to walk around for a week looking like clowns.

Haku was doing well. The doctors were confident that she would make a full recovery and would be allowed to leave in a few days. Much to the relief of Zabuza, who had not left her side the whole time.

Also to the relief of Sasuke, not that he would tell anyone. He had been spending all his spare time with Haku, whenever he wasn't training he was with her and, because he never left, Zabuza.

Team 8 were currently at their training ground, working on teamwork. Kurenai had told them about the chunin exam the day before and they were all looking forward to proving themselves. They all signed the forms instantly and now had two months to prepare, and they weren't wasting a moment of it.

It was while they were training that something strange happened that, for once, had nothing to do with Naruto.

Out of nowhere a ball shot into the training ground and exploded. When the smoke cleared it revealed a large banner that was being held up by to kunai stuck into two separate trees. The banner read in large bold letters '**presenting the sexy and single Mitarashi Anko!**'

They could all hear Kurenai grown in exasperation. Then a blur landed in front of the banner. Hinata's face turned a bright red and smoke could be seen coming out of her ears. Shino just stood there, not moving, but they could all see the blood stain that was growing on the front of his collar.

Naruto however just laughed at his teammates reactions.

Standing before them was a beautiful woman; she looked to be in her early twenties or late teens, had purple hair and pupil less brown eyes. But the thing that drew the most attention was the way she was dressed. She was wearing a tight mesh body suit and a burn orange skirt that barely covered her womanhood and over it was a light tanned trench coat.

All in all, she was hot and wasn't trying to hide it.

Smirking at the gennin she frowned when her eyes landed on Naruto. Walking up and getting right in his face her frown deepened and she turned to Kurenai.

"Hey nai-chan, your kid is broken."

Kurenai just rolled her eyes at her friend's antics.

"Did it ever occur to you that he just isn't a pervert?"

Anko gave her a blank look.

"No."

Turning back to the boy Anko walked in a circle around him, looking him all over. Naruto just stood their, giggling to himself.

When she finished looking him over Anko walked back in front of him and put her face inches away from his own.

"You gay?"

"Nope, you?"

Anko just grinned.

"Don't get fresh with me brat, do you know who I am."

"From the sign I would guess Mitarashi Anko, snake mistress of Konoha. If you're going to ask that question you shouldn't make a big sign with your name on it."

They could all see the tick mark that appeared on Anko's forehead.

"What would you know? When you're someone as great and sexy as me you need to announce it to the world!"

"But if that was true then why would you need to point it out to people, they should already know."

The two stared at each other for a long minute. It was then that Anko took notice of the kunai in the blonde's hands. It was longer then the normal standard kunai, and was made of a lighter metal. Trying to think of where she had seen it before it hit her like a ton of bricks.

It was hers!

Grabbing the kunai out of his hands and cradling it like a newborn baby, Anko sent a suspicious look out of the corner of her eye.

"When the hell id you take my kunai! And for that matter why didn't I notice!"

The grin that came over the blondes face worried even Anko for a second, but it didn't last long.

"Did you know you forgot to put on a shirt today?"

All those in the training ground except Naruto and Anko face faulted.

Turning to her friend again Anko very loudly asked.

"Is he an idiot or something?"

"I really don't know."

Turning back to the blonde Anko gave him another suspicious look.

"What's your name brat?"

Again, Naruto just grinned and pointed to her sign, which now read '**The Sexy and Insane Uzumaki Naruto**' with a drawing of a chibi Naruto grinning and giving a peace sign. They all looked from the sign to the blonde several times, wondering when he had changed the sign.

Then, out of nowhere, Anko burst out laughing. She was soon joined in by Naruto. They stood there laughing for a good ten minutes, but what scared team 8 the most was the fact that Anko had a similar laugh to Naruto. It wasn't exactly the same, but it was enough for them to be worried.

Finally getting a holed of herself, Anko patted Naruto on the back.

"You're alright kid, hey nai-chan, why didn't you introduce us earlier?"

Shaking her head the red eyed jonnin locked a blank look on her friend.

"The Hokage, council and all the jonnin of the village agreed that it was safer for the village if you two never met."

Both raised an eye brow at that, and then grinned at each other. So people didn't want them to meet, this could be fun.

Getting a bad feeling Kurenai quickly changed the subject.

"So why are you here Anko, I thought you were working with Ibiki all day."

Facing her long time friend Anko pouted.

"Old scar face said I needed a vacation, so I thought I would come and see you."

Walking up to her, Anko through her arm around Kurenai's neck.

"Tonight me, you, Hana and your three brats are hitting the town."

Anko was curious when she saw three of the four people stood around her pale.

"NO!"

And was a little taken aback when they shouted at the same time, casting scared looks towards the blonde, who just grinned back at them.

"oook, that was weird."

XXX

They still ended up going out that night, even after they explained what had happened in wave. If anything it seemed to make Anko more eager to go. Hana couldn't make it so it was just the five of them.

Team eight kept giving Naruto worried looks throughout the night, counting how much he drank and ready to run the second he did something.

But nothing happened.

For the whole night Anko and Naruto could be seen laughing and talking. They had been thrown out of several bars for starting fights with other people, but nothing overly crazy happened.

The two talked and laughed long into the night, even after the others went home.

And the next morning the village awoke to the sight of the Hokage monument painted.

They had all been painted to look more real, but each had a little ...quirk.

The Shodaime had a picture of a naked woman next to his head and his eyes closed and a blush across his face. The Nidaime and Sandaime both had perverted looks on their faces and drool falling out of their mouths and the Yondaime was looking the opposite way at another picture of a naked man with a curious look on his face.

The villagers were outraged at the blatant disrespect shown towards the Hokage's and demanded that the ones responsible were punished. They all knew it was Naruto, and after Kurenai talked to the Hokage, Anko, but no one could find them. It also soon became clear that they had used the same paint Naruto had in wave. No matter how hard they tried it wouldn't come off.

Throughout the day several people were caught victim to traps set around the village, from pit falls to paint bombs. It took the ANBU most of the day to find and deactivate the traps.

However they didn't seem to mind it, when the Hokage asked them why an ANBU in a bear mask and a white hooded cloak answered.

"The fact that they got around us and set the traps shows we need to improve internal defences. If they were an enemy they could have planted exploding tags in stead of paint bombs."

Seeing his point Sarutobi agreed to let them rearrange the village defences so they could avoid it happening again.

But they still couldn't find Naruto or Anko.

XXX

**Hope you like the chapter. I've been waiting to bring Anko in for a while now and wanted to make it funny. Let me know what you think. :)**


	15. The Silent and the Clans

**Glad you all liked the last chapter, let me know what you think of this one. :)**

XXX

**Disclaimer: I own nothing :(**

XXX

Chapter 15- The Silent and the Clans

Nobody saw much of Naruto for the next few weeks. He would show up to team training but other then that he was hardly seen. Kurenai had gone to Higashi a few times only to be told that he had just left. She, Hinata and Shino had tried to follow him several times but he always gave them the slip.

They would have asked a villager if they knew where he was but the only answer they ever got was harsh glares and a few murmurs about stupid demon brats, so they stopped trying.

Team 8 were currently in the Hokage office, Sarutobi looking at them with a worried expression on his aged face. They had been called because of something that had happened during their mission to Wave that they didn't know about until now.

Apparently one of The Silent had witnessed the battle at the bridge when Naruto had massacred Gato and his men. The Silent were a neutral people that worked for all the daimyos in the Elemental Nations as scouts for the bingo book. They would travel around the Nations observing ninja and whenever they found someone of note they would send their information to be printed in the monthly updates.

The reason that they were called The Silent was because no one had ever actually seen one. Nobody knew what they looked like and nobody would know they were there until the bingo book came out. They were both feared and respected by all the Shinobi villages for their skills.

The problem was that The Silent that had been witness at the bridge had thought Naruto impressive enough to add him in the latest update. Shortly after they had arrived Sarutobi had taken out the book and showed it to them.

At seeing the entry in the book Naruto had just laughed.

**Name: **Uzumaki Naruto

**Age:** 12

**Alias: **The True Horror of Konoha

**Village: **Konoha

**Rank: **Gennin

**Status:** Active

**Skill Level: **High B

_Uzumaki showed great power and skill with an unknown Jutsu and is believed to be able to use a, until now, thought impossible ability to physically transform his body. It is unknown if this is by the use of a new bloodline or Jutsu. He is also able to perform the Shadow Clone Jutsu to a degree far beyond what was believed to be possible._

_During observation he was seen making a thousand Shadow Clones and transforming them into an army of 'demons', which he named as the "Parade of a Thousand Demons". The result of this was the complete slaughter of 984 bandits that were in the employ of one Gato, from Gato shipping company and the man himself. At one point just before the battle he was also seen stopping a Chidori from the famed Hatake Kakashi with his bare hands and suffering no ill effects._

_After the incident he was seen removing the heads of all the bandits and put them on pikes surrounding the village and claimed it as under his protection._

_It is believed that due to his actions observed during and after the incident that his mental state should be in question as he appeared to be enjoying himself while he killed. This was deduced from the laughter that was heard._

_In conclusion, Uzumaki Naruto has proven himself dangerous and is believed to have no regard for human life. It is advised for anyone under Jonnin level not to engage until more information has been gained. _

At the top of the page was a picture of Naruto, which looked like it had been taken just after the battle when he had changed back to normal. It showed him covered from head to toe in blood, surrounded by what was left of Gatos thugs and a dark, insane grin on his face with his hair covering the top of his eyes. In his hand they could see the decapitated head of Gato still dripping blood on the ground. It seemed to fit the blonde perfectly, the way it caught his grin and the look in his eyes, the fact that he was surrounded by the dead.

It just fit.

It also showed a picture of Naruto's mark, the demonised smiley face.

After reading the entry Kurenai had taken to having the same worried look on her face as the Hokage. It was rare for a Gennin to be added to the bingo book and most chunnin didn't get as high a skill level as Naruto now had, the fact that he had been given a do not engage was also rare.

The problem with this was that it would generate a lot of attention, the fact that it said not to engage if below Jonnin would mean nothing to most. They would come looking to challenge Naruto to prove themselves. The only good that would come of this would be that the village would get a lot of publicity. The other thing that worried Sarutobi was the name they had given him. 'The True Horror of Konoha' hit a bit too close to home for the aged Hokage.

It was just before he was about to send them out that Naruto spoke.

"Oh, old man before I forget, how soon can you arrange a meeting for the shinobi council?"

Looking at the blonde curiously the old man checked a few papers on his desk before turning back to him.

"If its important then I can arrange it for this evening, but if not it might be hard to get them to come."

Naruto just grinned.

"Tell them the Faceless Blacksmith has made the clans a present."

This made all those in the room grin along with the blonde.

XXX

It was easier then Sarutobi thought to get the clans to meet. The second he had mentioned the Faceless Blacksmith they had been all to ready to agree. Tsume had arrived at the training ground Naruto had asked them to meet two hours ago.

By the time Sarutobi got there himself he was the last to arrive, even Shikaku had come early.

"Right, well you all know why we are her-"

It was here that Tsume finally lost her temper.

"For the love of Kami get to the point Hiruzen!"

Nodding his head at the dog like woman Sarutobi turned towards the trees at the edge of the training ground.

"You better come out before Miss Inuzuka breaks something."

"Spoil sport."

From behind a large oak tree came Naruto, a large scroll in his hands.

Without saying a word the young blonde walked over to the group and looked at the shocked faces of the Inuzuka, Yamanaka, Akimichi and Nara clan heads.

The first to get over her shock was Tsume.

"You, your the Faceless Blacksmith?"

"Yep"

"You mean that it was you the whole time?"

"Yep"

"And you're only telling us now!"

"If I throw you a stick will you shut the hell up?"

"What the hell did you just say!"

"I said if I throw you a stick will you shut the hell up, why the hell do people always ask me to repeat myself?"

Before Tsume could leap at Naruto and try to strangle him, Sarutobi decided that it was time for him to intervene.

"Enough Tsume, Naruto asked you all here for a reason, or at least I hope he did."

The last part was more for himself then the others.

Pouting like a child the brash Inuzuka stepped back, mumbling under her breath.

Putting the scroll on the ground in front of him Naruto opened it out for all to see the storage seals inside.

"Let's see, which to show you first..."

Running a finger over the many seals on the scroll he came to a stop at one in the middle.

"Here we go."

Quickly applying chakra to the seal they all waited for the smoke to clear, and when it did all there jaws dropped.

In the blonde's hands was the most beautifully carved bow they had ever seen. It was five foot in length and like all of Narutos weapons had a maze of complicated seals carved into it. The wood was stained a dark, almost black brown and the ends had small, one sided kunai like blades and were made out of a silver metal that caught the light of the afternoon sun. The middle of the bow was wrapped in a silver coloured leather and printed on it was the symbol of the Yamanaka clan.

Walking up to his fellow blonde Naruto adapted his serious face and handed him the bow.

Inoichi marvelled at the bow in his hands but that soon turned to confusion. Seeing the look on the older mans face Naruto explained.

"Let me guess, your wondering why there are no arrows?"

At his nod Naruto grinned and went on.

"You don't need them."

Taking the bow back from Inoichi Naruto pulled back the string and took aim at a log in the middle of the training ground about twenty feet from where they were all standing.

They all gasped as a glowing blue arrow made from what looked like pure chakra appeared in Narutos hand. Letting the arrow go they all watched as it flew towards the log, only for it to disappear midflight. Suddenly a small, deep hole appeared in the wood. Lowering the bow Naruto turned back to the shocked face of Inoichi.

"By channelling your chakra through the seals on the bow it automatically shapes it into an arrow, as soon as you let it go it fades from the view of the naked eye, although a Hyuga would be able to see it and someone with sensor ability could probably feel it coming. Also, I made it work in conjunction with your family Jutsu, by adding chakra into your clan seal it has the same effect as hitting someone with your **Mind Derangement Technique** or **Mind Body Change Technique**, and will increase the distance your Jutsu can travel. You will need to verbalize the Jutsu though."

His eyes widening at what he was being told the older blonde took the offered bow.

Turning back to his scroll Naruto again trailed his figure along the seals until he came to the one he was looking for.

When the smoke cleared this time it was to reveal a long metal chain with a head sized steel ball at one end and a hoop at the other. What surprised them was that the chain itself also had seals carved into each link that made it up and at the centre of the ball was the clan symbol of the Akimichi.

Stepping towards Naruto, Chouza took the ball in one hand and the chain in the other to examine it.

"Impressive, but the ball on the end is a bit small don't you think?"

Grinning Naruto told the large man to channel his chakra through the chain and into the ball. Doing as he was told he was surprised when the ball tripled in size, yet didn't seem to gain any weight.

"I took the basic idea of your clans **Expansion** Jutsu and applied it to the ball and chain, it only seems like it hasn't gained weight because it's your chakra that's making it grow, and if you dropped it on the floor it would more then likely leave a good sized dent. I don't actually know the limit on how big it can get but if you go full sized it should change with you."

Without giving Chouza a chance to respond Naruto turned back to his scroll and released another seal.

Walking up to Tsume Naruto presented her with a pair of gauntlets. They were made of a strange black metal and had been moulded into the shape of wolf heads with their mouths open and fangs beared, the detail was so good they almost looked alive. The seals that covered them were just as intricate as the others and the Inuzuka clan symbol was etched into the eyes of the wolf.

She took the gloves from the blonde and without a second thought slipped them on her hands and channelled her chakra through the seals. As soon as she did this the mouths of the wolves closed shut with a loud snap.

"As you can see, the idea is that you can use them to grab your opponent. They close with enough force to snap bones in one go. Also, you can slip them back up your wrist so you can use your hands for your clan Jutsu."

This time, before he could turn back to the scroll he was grabbed in a bear hug by Tsume, who then proceeded to give the blonde a deep kiss on the lips.

The eyes of all those watching widened and they suppressed there laughs that threatened to erupt from their throats at the shocked look on Narutos face. As soon as she let him go he backed off so he was out of reaching distance and mumbled under his breath just loud enough for then to hear.

"If _she_ hears about this she'll cut my nuts off, _again_!"

Realizing he said that out loud, Naruto quickly moved back to the scroll and released the next seal. What surprised them was that when the smoke cleared there wasn't a weapon but clothes.

There was a long sleeved shirt, ninja pants; socks, sandals, gloves and what appeared to be a mask without eye holes. They were made of a thin, black material so dark that it seemed to draw in the light around it like a black hole. The only colour other then black was the seals, that had been sown on in a deep blood red, and on the back of the shirt was the symbol of the Nara clan.

Shikaku looked over the clothes with a critical eye before letting out a sigh.

"I give, what are they for."

"Put them on."

Shrugging his shoulders the scard Nara took off his jonnin jacket and sandals and walked over to the pile of close. After he had put everything on, including the mask that he was surprised to find didn't affect his vision. When the suit was on the seals all connected and the separate pieces of clothing seemed to meld into one.

Nodding his head in satisfaction, Naruto released another seal on the scroll picked up a smaller scroll and handed it to Shikaku. If they could have seen his face they would have seen his eyes go wide at what was on the scroll, but they could still hear the gasp that escaped his mouth.

Turning to face Naruto he spoke in barely a whisper.

"Do you know what you have done?"

The blonde just grinned at him, not saying a word.

Worried about his friend Chouza walked over to him.

"What is it Shikaku?"

He didn't get an answer; Shikaku just kept staring at Naruto for a long minute, then walked over to a tree and stood in its shadow, then made a single hand seal.

"**Shadow Step Jutsu!**"

What happened next was both shocking and amazing, taking a step back Shikaku actually _melded _with the shadow of the tree, only to emerge slowly from the shadow of Chouza. As he raised from the shadow they could all see black wisps of smoke like tendrils clinging to his body.

Seeing the shocked faces of the people in the clearing made Naruto laugh.

"Your faces are priceless... ha!"

Taking off the mask Shikaku took deep breaths, his face was red and his eyes were wide, he looked like he had just run around the village five times.

"That... was... incredible! It was... like I just... stepped through water... and then I was there."

Getting serious again Naruto walked over to Shikaku and handed him a soldier pill, which he took with a nod of his head.

"The more you use it the less chakra it will take, after a while it shouldn't take anymore then your clans **Shadow Possession** Jutsu."

Stepping forward and clearing his throat, Sarutobi addressed the two.

"Would you be so kind as to explain what just happened."

Turning to look at them all Naruto let a smug look cross his face.

"The Nara rely on there superior mental condition to think up complex strategies in order to trap their opponents. Because of this, I had a hard time making a weapon that would fit there style. The suit allows them to slip through the space between spaces. All shadows are connected; you just need to be able to open the door. With the Nara bloodline to control shadows this door was always open to them, but they couldn't survive the trip through the shadows, could you Nara-san?"

They all turned to see Shikaku, his face looking better now that the soldier pill was taking effect.

"He's right, we have known about the 'shadow space' for years, but until now it was unsafe to travel. The last Nara to try came out frozen to death, the time before that the pressure was too much and crushed them, eventually we stopped trying. But how did you know about it?"

"Hm... oh I broke into your clan volt and read all your scrolls, don't worry I didn't take anything, just read enough to understand the mechanics of your Jutsu."

"I know that I should be angry, but all things considered I don't have it in me."

Shaking his head Sarutobi let out a deep breath.

"So let me get this straight, with the suit Naruto has made for you, you are now able to travel through shadows?"

"Pretty much, but only for short distances, the longer the space between shadows the more strain it would put on the body. Stick with a few feet at a time until you can build up a resistance to the shadows."

Shikaku just nodded his head, understanding what Naruto meant.

Letting out a deep breath the aged Hokage turned back to the grinning blonde.

"I give up; I don't know if you're a genius or just fucking insane. I'm getting to old for this shit."

XXX

**Hopefully this is ok; let me know what you think :)**

**R&R**


	16. Brothers in Pain and Fan Girls

**Thanks for the reviews; This is the longest chapter I have written yet! Also the last chapter was mostly just to help build up for later chapters so don't worry. I just wanted to get the weapons done for the chunnin exam. Also for those that commented that he finished them too quick he was working on them for as long as he was Hinata and Shino's, also he had more experience at that point so it was mostly designing them that took so long, hopefully that clears things up. Also in this fic all the clans Jutsu are bloodlines. Enjoy the chapter. :)**

XXX

**Disclaimer: I own nothing :(**

XXX

Chapter 16- Brothers in Pain and Fan Girls

The chunnin exam was in a week and more and more people were coming into the village everyday, teams from every village in the elemental nations gathering to prove themselves the strongest. Rock-nin, Cloud-nin, Grass-nin, Sand-nin, Water-nin, even a team from Rain had shown up.

Team 8 had kept training right up until today, Kurenai deciding to give them a rest before the exam so they would be at 100%. Ever since they had been shown Naruto's profile in the bingo book both Hinata and Shino had been training twice as hard as before and Kurenai was getting worried that they might burn themselves out.

It wasn't until yesterday that she found out why, having decided to ask them, and it turned out that they were trying to improve themselves so they could keep up with Naruto. Seeing his picture in the bingo book along with all the other ninja had made them worried about being left behind and, despite the fact that Naruto was insane, he was still their teammate and they didn't want to be a burden.

Not that Naruto really noticed.

He would talk to them, train with them and still be as random as ever, but it was like he was in his own little world. His chakra control had improved by leaps and bounds over the last month and he had even showed them some of his ideas for shifts he had had so they would know what to expect. They quickly learned that he had favourites, though they were unsure if it was because he liked them or so his others would not become general knowledge.

But today was different from others because for once Naruto, Shino and Hinata had decided to meet outside of training and missions. It was Kurenai's idea; apparently she thought it would be good for them to spend time outside work to build bounds with each other and help them work better as a team. So far all they had done was walk around the village and talk, mostly about Hinata and Shino's families.

It was while they were walking around the village that they found themselves looking at three kids and what seemed to be two Sand-nin in the middle of an argument. They had just turned the corner into the street when one of the Sand nin, that seemed to be dressed in some kind of cat suit and make up with a strange object on his back covered in bandages, lift one of the kids into the air by the front of his shirt and started to shake him.

The kid was wearing some kind of helmet with a tuft of brown hair sticking out the top, a faded green shirt, white shorts and a long blue scarf that was too big for him.

"Watch were your going brat!"

The only response he got was the boy kicking him in the shin.

"Do you know who I am; I'm the grandson of the Hokage!"

"I don't care, apologise!"

"Fuck you!"

"You little!"

Bringing back his fist in preparation to punch the boy in the face Kankuro was surprised when someone grabbed his wrist and stopped it inches from his face. Turning to see who it was he came face to face with a tall, bandaged blonde kid with a Leaf headband tied to his left arm.

"You got a problem."

"Yeah, drop him."

Locking eyes with the blonde Kankuro suppressed the shiver that ran down his back at the familiar look in his deep, blue eyes. He couldn't put his finger on it, where had he seen eyes like that before and why did they scare him so much.

Putting the kid, that for some reason had started shaking when he saw the blonde and ran off with his friend the second his feet touched the ground, Kankuro turned to him and got in his face.

"You going to take his place?"

Naruto just laughed.

"You couldn't hit me, why don't you run along and go fix your makeup?"

"IT'S NOT MAKEUP! IT'S WAR PAINT!"

"Then why does that girl your with have the same eye shadow?"

They could all see the Sand nins face turning red in anger while the girl tried not to laugh.

Temari was stood a few feet behind her brother. She had on a purple battle dress and a pair of black shorts, her hair was tied in four separate pony tails and the top of her fan was just visible over her left shoulder.

Having enough Kankuro reached around and pulled the object off his back and slammed it on the ground.

Temari, seeing what he was about to do ran up to her brother and stood between him and Naruto.

"Your going to use Crow, here, are you mad?"

"Shut up, I'm going to wipe that grin off his fucking face!"

Shaking her head and stepping back Temari turned to look at the blonde, only to see he had gone.

"If you're going to threaten someone, don't stand around saying it."

Eyes wide she turned back to her brother and gasped.

The blonde boy had gotten behind her and Kankuro without them noticing and had a sinister, black and red bladed hand scythe at her brother's neck. His hair was covering his eyes and the grin on his face looked had turned from amused to creepy.

Kankuro had frozen the instant he felt the blade at his throat.

They stayed like that for a moment, no one moving. Then, without warning the blade was gone and the blonde was stood in front of them again, looking at a tree to his right.

"You missed."

Before anyone could ask what he was talking about the air was flooded with killing intent and a small sandstorm appeared next to Kankuro. Both Sand-nin paled at the sight of the red head with the large gored on his back that appeared form out of the sand. He had very pale skin and dark rings around his eyes, along with the kanji for 'love' tattooed on his forehand in red ink.

His eyes were glued to Naruto.

"Dude, you need to get some sleep."

Shrinking away from the boy Kankuro tried to explain.

"G-G-Gaara, it's not what you think. He-"

"Enough, you are an embarrassment, shut up or I will kill you myself."

There was no emotion in his voice when he spoke and his gaze was still locked on Naruto.

"Mother wants your blood."

Without another word the cork in to top of the gored on his back flew off and sand shot out and moved straight to Naruto, only to stop just before it touched him. Gaara's eyes widened in shock and, taking several steps away, grabbed his head in pain, the sand falling to the ground.

The reason for this was because just as the sand was about to reach him Naruto released his own killing intent, dwarfing Gaara's.

This had never happened before, it wasn't possible. No one had ever beaten him in killing intent, not even his farther!

Still clutching his head in pain from Shukaku screaming at him to run, Gaara looked at Naruto with panicked eyes.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU! WHY DOES MOTHER SCREAM!"

Releasing his killing intent Naruto started slowly walking towards Gaara, who was backing away as quick as possible.

Both Kankuro and Temari were shocked at their brother's actions, not having felt Naruto's killing intent because it was directed at Gaara. They had never seen him scared before. Who the hell was this guy?

Appearing next to Gaara, Naruto bent down so he could look into the smaller boy's eyes and grinned. What happened next shocked them all, including Gaara.

Wrapping his arms around the boy, Naruto picked him up into a bear hug. Hinata and Shino just brushed it off as Naruto being Naruto, but the Sand-nins couldn't understand how he got so close to Gaara and was actually able to touch him.

Despite the situation they couldn't suppress the feeling of jealousy towards the blonde for being able to do something they had never been able to do. Hug their little brother.

Putting the shocked red head down Naruto then lifted his shirt up, revealing his seal. They were all so shocked that they just stood there, watching as he examined it and shaking his head before standing back up and leaning in to whisper in Gaara's ear.

Whatever he said must have been more shocking then the hug, judging from Gaara's sharp intake of breath and the look on his face.

Walking away from the still frozen Gaara, Naruto made his way over to his teammates and started back down the street, but stopped and looked back at them before turning the corner.

"If you want to help him, meet me on top of the forth at 8."

XXX

Gaara refused to tell them what the blonde had said to him before leaving, just that he was going to meet him and if they told anyone he would kill them.

Despite the fact that they were terrified of him, he was still their brother and they had no intention of letting him go alone, they didn't trust the blonde boy.

After their meeting and Gaara going off on his own they had walked around the village and asked people if they knew who he was.

Whenever they gave someone his description one of two things happened, one, they would get angry and walked away without saying anything. Or two, they would get scared, look around as if to make sure no one was around and told them to drop it.

If they were honest with themselves it reminded them of how people acted in Suna whenever Gaara was mentioned, which worried them even more.

When it was 7 they left their hotel with Gaara and made their way to the Hokage monument, fully geared and ready for a trap. Baki was suspicious at first, but left them alone when they said they were going to scout the village.

They had convinced Gaara to leave early so they could check out the area to be sure it wasn't a trap. The only response they had got was a nod of the head and Gaara moving towards the door.

It was about a mile away from the meeting point that they felt it. One moment they were walking and the next it was like an invisible wall was blocking their path. The air shimmered in front of them and no matter how hard they tried it wouldn't let them through.

It was then that Temari looked at the ground and saw the line. Bending down to get a better look she turned back to her brothers.

"Look, I think it's some kind of seal."

"So how are we supposed to meet him if we can't even get there?"

After a quick debate they decided to follow the line off the path into the trees and try to find a weak point.

They walked through the trees in complete silents for 10 minutes before they came to a break in the line and it was here they were able to pass through the barrier. It was weird, like walking through water; the air was so thick they couldn't even breathe.

As soon as they were on the other side they heard it. Slow and mournful, it almost brought tears to their eyes just hearing it. Making their way toward the music they found themselves at the edge of a steep cliff face overlooking the village. It was beautiful view, the light of the setting sun in the distance reflecting off the rooftops. It was a once in a lifetime view.

And there, sat on a rock facing towards the edge of the cliff was the blonde, playing a violin.

They stayed like that for another five minutes while he finished his songs, they knew he knew they were there, and the fact that he didn't care about showing his back to them was bad. It meant one of two things, he didn't care because they weren't a fret, or he was an idiot, and from what they saw earlier it was probably the first.

When he was done Naruto calmly put his violin away and without turning away from the view addressed the Sand-nin.

"Its beautiful right, when I come up here it's like it never happened. Like the mask that Konoha works so hard to hide behind is actually the face. But its not. They are no different then any other village, worse in some ways, better in others but still the same."

Losing his temper at the cryptic statement Kankuro stepped towards Naruto.

"What the hell are you talking about? Why did you ask us to come here and what the HELL was the barrier _thing_ that we ran into?"

Naruto showed no sign that he had even heard the questions, just stared out at the village as the sun finally fell and the sky turned black.

"It was a simple barrier, stops anyone from seeing or hearing us. Nothing an experienced ninja couldn't disable with a well placed Jutsu."

The way he said this, the lack of interest or emotion in his voice as he said it, made Kankuro want to throw him off the cliff. But before he could take another step Gaara walked past him and stood just behind to the blonde.

"What did you mean before; when you said I'm not alone. I have always been alone."

Naruto laughed, he laughed so hard it started to hurt.

"You're wrong, you have your family, that's more then most have."

Looking over his shoulder to see the surprised faces of Temari and Kankuro Naruto laughed again.

"It wasn't hard to figure out, the way you look at him with both fear and worry. You're luckier then you know red. You have something I never did."

"Who are you?"

Standing up and turning to face Temari he reached down to his stomach and ripped of the cloth and bandages that covered it, revealing scard skin an a dark spiral mark with another five, smaller then the one in the middle surrounding it.

"I am Uzumaki Naruto, Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune and 'The True Horror of Konoha."

They all stood in silents for a long time, the three Sand-nin frozen like statues, shocked at what they had just been told.

"Did you think you were the only one?"

This question seemed to snap them out of their shock. Trying to hide his emotions, but failing, Gaara turned to Naruto, only to see his clothes and bandages were back to how they had been before.

Seeing the confusion on his face Naruto simply said.

"We all get something from our tenants."

"Is this what you meant when you called me brother back in the village?"

Nodding his head Naruto walked to the middle of the clearing and unsealed a large brush and pot of ink from a scroll he had hidden in his sleeve and started to draw seals on the ground.

"We are brothers in pain. We both know what it means to suffer for something out of our control."

Both Temari and Kankuro had been listening to the conversation from the side of the clearing but when Kankuro heard Naruto saying he was like Gaara, it made his blood boil.

"How dare you say you know what Gaara's been through, what could you know about his suffering?"

Whatever he was expecting as a response, it wasn't what he got. Without looking up from the seals he was painting on the ground Naruto laughed.

"The only difference between me and your brother is that I didn't have his sand as protection. Before my seventh birthday all I could do was heal."

There eyes widened in understanding at his words. By Gaara's seventh birthday he had had more attempts on his life then most Kages did in there rule. Without his sand Gaara would have been dead a long time ago.

But something didn't seem right to Temari.

"You say that, yet seem to be fine now."

"Fine? Hahahahaha. Babe you haven't got a clue, have you. The only reason I'm here is because they couldn't keep me locked up anymore. Until a few months ago I was locked in a mental institution chained in a cell that was covered in chakra absorbing seals. I'm completely off my rocker."

Nothing more was said after that, they all just stood there, watching him paint his seal on the ground.

When he was done the seal encompass almost the entire clearing, a maze of lines and curves. And in the centre of them all was a small circle without any seals in it.

Turning to face the blonde, Gaara looked him in the eyes and asked.

"What are you doing?"

"Fixing you"

Looking back at the three he pouted.

"Why do people always get confused around me?"

"Maybe you're just smarter then everyone else."

This made the blonde grin.

"Flattery will get you everywhere."

Walking over to where the three sand siblings stood, Gaara slightly apart from the other two, Naruto explained.

"Your seal is, for lack of a better word, crap. It's too weak to fully hold your Biju, to weak to contain its chakra. Whoever made it either thought it would give you more power or didn't know what they were doing, but I'm guessing the first. They were wrong. Having a weaker seal doesn't give you more power; it just makes it nearly impossible for you to control it."

"I don't understand."

"Just by having a Biju sealed inside you gives you power, no matter how strong the seal is. I told you I would help you, and I will."

Here he pointed towards the circle in the middle of the seal.

"Stand in that circle and I can fix your seal. I have been learning about seals ever since I was released and can make it stronger. You keep your sand, but lose the voice in your head."

Gaara didn't look convinced, so Naruto used what he knew would be the deal maker.

"I can help you sleep."

Three sets of eyes widened at those words. He would never admit it but Gaara _longed_ to be able to sleep.

"Why are you doing this?"

"Because, despite what you and everyone else may think, it's not too late for you, you can still prove them wrong; prove that you're not the demon."

"...What about you."

The only answer he got was a sad grin.

Without another word Gaara made his way towards the circle, only to stop in surprise when both Kankuro and Temari stood in his way.

"What are you doing?"

"How do you know we can trust him, for all we know this could be a trap."

"Kankuro's right Gaara, think about what you're doing, we've only known him for a few hours."

He didn't know what to say. They were worried about him; after all the times he had threatened to kill them they were worried about his safety. Turning to Naruto Gaara let a very rare smile cross his lips.

"You were right; I didn't know what I had."

Walking past them and straight into the circle Gaara nodded towards Naruto to start.

Bending down and putting both hands on the ground Naruto channelled his chakra through the array. The seals lit up with an eerie blue light as his chakra flowed through them on their quest to reach the centre. What he didn't expect was for both Temari and Kankuro to stand next to him and add there own chakra to the seal.

As soon as the light reached the centre it sent up a pillar of blue light high into the sky, they could here Gaara screaming, but couldn't see him.

This continued for several minutes until, slowly, the light faded leaving an unconscious Gaara lying on the ground.

When after a few minutes nothing happened, Kankuro and Temari ran over to their brother to find that he had a small smile on his face and was breathing deeply.

"You did it. YOU DID IT! He's sleeping."

Turning and running towards the blonde Temari through herself at him and pulled him into a deep kiss. When she let him go Naruto practically jumped half way across the clearing to put some distance between them.

"WHY DOES EVERYONE KEEP KISSING ME? IF SHE FINDS OUT ABOUT THIS SHE'LL CUT MY BALLS OFF AGAIN! DO YOU HAVE _ANY_ IDEAR HOW LONG IT TAKES FOR THOSE TO GROW BACK?"

Not sure if he was being serious or not Temari walked over to her brothers and for the first time since he was born pulled her youngest brother into a hug.

They stayed like that for a long minute, until Kankuro and Temari locked eyes and nodded to each other.

Standing and walking over to the blonde Kankuro bowed his head in respect.

"We can't thank you enough for what you've done for Gaara, but this might be a start-."

"You're not going to kiss me now as well, are you?"

They could all see the tick mark at the back of the puppeteers head.

"NO!"

"Good cuz I don't bend that way."

"I'M NOT GAY!"

"You sure, you look gay, what with the make up and all."

"IT'S WAR PAINT! WAR. PAINT!"

"Calm down Kankuro."

Taking deep breaths Kankuro turned a grateful look towards his sister. After he had calmed down Kankuro explained all about the invasion and how Orochimaru was the leader of Sound Village.

When he was done Naruto went about removing the seal and turned to head back to the village, but looked over his shoulder one more time before he left.

"You sure you're not gay?"

And with that he ran off, laughing at the sound of the Sand-nins screams of fury as he went.

XXX

**1 week later**

XXX

Hinata and Shino were stood outside the Academy waiting for Naruto. They were getting worried, if he didn't show up soon they would be late for the start of the exam.

"So, how long are we going to stand here?"

They both stood there for a moment, eyes closed and taking deep breaths to calm themselves down, before turning around to face Naruto, and their eyes went wide.

Naruto had changed clothes.

Instead of his straight jacket, Naruto was wearing a sleeveless red vest with black lining the edges. His arms were bear except for the bandages he used to cover his skin and the headband tied around the top of his left arm. Without the bulky jacket they were able to clearly see the muscles under the bandages, evidence of his training over the last few months. On his head he now wore a pair of red tinted gogols with a black strap and a long red and black scarf around his neck. When he turned around to look at the Academy they saw on the back of the vest the same smiley face he had painted on the village hall in wave. It was printed in a black ink and had been made to look like it was dripping.

It was the first time they had ever seen him in different clothes, they had actually thought he didn't even have other clothes.

The looks on their faces made Naruto laugh and without saying anything he turned and went in. Getting over their shock Hinata and Shino quickly followed.

"How long have you been here Naruto?"

Turning so he was walking backwards; the blonde got a thoughtful look before looking at Shino.

"About two hours."

"And you didn't think to tell us you were there?"

"Nope."

"Why not?"

"I was thinking."

"Should I even ask what you were thinking about?"

"I was wondering what the inside of my nose looks like. I tried to look but just couldn't see up there. Hey could you do me a favour?"

"...Hell no."

"Meiny"

They were so engrossed in there conversation that they didn't even notice the crowd of ninjas stood outside a door on the second floor and went straight to the third. When they got to room 301 Naruto paused at the door.

"Is there really this many rooms in this place, seems kind of small to have over 300 rooms."

Shrugging their shoulders they walked into the room.

It was filled with ninja from different villages, all armed to the teeth. The air was thick with killing intent and everyone was giving suspicious looks to the others in the room, even people from the same village.

Naruto could see Gaara, Temari and Kankuro stood next to a wall away from everyone else out of the corner of his eye and gave them a small nod.

Gaara looked pretty good. He still had the rings around his eyes but they were a shade lighter from what they had been the last time he saw him and instead of standing away from his brother and sister he was stood right next to them, a small, almost unseen smile on his face. He had a long way to go, but it was a start.

Seeing the other rookies in a corner at the far end of the room team 8 headed straight in there direction. They got there just in time to see a silver haired gennin with glasses sat on the floor reed out information on a card to a rather beat up Sasuke.

"Let's see, Rock Lee, taijutsu expert for team 9. His sensei is Might Guy and due to a medical condition he is unable to use even the simplest Jutsu. His team have preformed 52 D-rank, 23 C-rank and 2 A-rank."

"If he can't use Jutsu how did he pass the gennin exam?"

"From what I understand he became the apprentice of Might Guy."

"PICKLE!"

Everyone in the room jumped at the sudden noise and Kabuto through his deck of info cards in the air.

"What the hell!"

As one the eyes of all the people in the room turned to the tall blonde rolling around on the floor laughing and the two stood on either side of him shaking their heads and trying to look like they didn't know him.

"Your faces, your faces...HA!"

When he felt the killing intent in the room spike Naruto stopped laughing and raised an eyebrow at them all from his position on the ground.

"That all you got?"

Before anyone could say anything the room was flooded with enough killing intent to bring them all to their knees.

"Pusses. "

After a minute Naruto stopped and turned back to the other rookies and the silver haired gennin.

"Yo."

"Why did you yell pickle? Encase you haven't noticed you could cut the tension in this room with a knife."

Turning to the glasses wearing teen Naruto grinned.

"Why not?"

"I remember you; you're that weird kid from the last day at the Academy, Naruto right?"

Looking at his fellow blonde Naruto nodded his head.

"Yep, and your the Yamanaka girl that looks like she needs a meal. Seriously, eat a cow or something; you look like you might fall over."

They could all see the blush on Ino's face.

"Shut up, your one to talk, your skinnier then I am!"

"That's because I have a freakishly high metabolism and until a few months ago couldn't get the necessary calories I needed. You just starve yourself."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

Deciding to intervene before Ino started screaming Shikamaru stepped in.

"Troublesome, He means his body was starving because he couldn't eat enough food. Now can you shut up, you're giving me a headache."

"Shut up Shika!"

"Excuse me, but who are you?"

Turning back to the silver haired gennin with the info cards, Naruto got a confused look on his face.

"Your still here?"

They could all see the sweat mark form at the back of Kabuto's head.

"Yeah."

Walking to stand next to him Hinata placed a sympathetic hand on his shoulder.

"That's Uzumaki Naruto, just try and ecnore him and you should be fine."

They all watched in surprise when the room went completely silent as, yet again all the eyes of the room turned to look at them, only this time with slight fear. Turning back to Kabuto they were even more surprised to see that he had gone pale and was staring at Naruto with wide eyes.

"U-U-Uzumaki N-Naruto, as in 'The True Horror of Konoha' Uzumaki Naruto?"

"So you've heard of me?"

At the confused looks of both teams 7 and 10 Kabuto reached into his pocket and took out a copy of the bingo book.

"He's one of the youngest ninja to ever be added to the bingo book and one of the only people to have a 'do not engage' in his profile."

Shrugging his shoulders at the looks he was getting Naruto brushed it aside.

"It's not that big a deal."

"It says here you killed almost a thousand men with a single Jutsu and put there heads on pikes around the village of Wave."

"Yeh, well... They pisst me off."

All the gennin in the room stepped away from the insane blonde. Except three girls wearing Kiri headbands who stepped forward with their own copies of the bingo book in their hands.

The one on the right had purple hair that framed her face and trailed down to the middle of her back, her soft blue eyes shining and a light blush going across her otherwise expressionless face and her skin so pale it seemed to almost glow and a lollypop in her mouth. She wore a black tank top under a sleeveless white jumper and purple sleeves that covered her arms and a green checkered skirt and stripy purple knee socks.

The girl on the left had long pink hair and a very cute smile. Her large blue eyes had a clear innocence about them that seemed to make her all the more beautiful and she kept sneaking glances at the blonde as they made their way forward. She had on a tite fitting blue tank top with a white leather jacket and a white skirt that didn't reach her knees.

The one in the middle seemed to be the leader and was very beautiful, just like the other two. With her long white hair, blood red eyes and a body that most women would kill for. She had on the same clothes as the pink haired girl except her top was red and her jacket and skirt were black. She walked with confidence and had a smirk on her face as she made her way over to the Konoha gennin and stopped in front of Naruto.

"So your 'The True Horror of Konoha', I like your picture, but you look cuter in person. Mind signing our books?"

Naruto was just as surprised as the other gennin at this point, but took the books and drew his signature smiley face on the picture of him covered in blood. Taking the books back the girl with the red eyes smirked at him.

"You've got quite the reputation, slaughtering almost a thousand men, mutilating there corpses..."

"He-he yeh, that was a fun afternoon."

"Your not like most ninja, are you?"

"You've got no idea."

The smirk on her face grew bigger.

"I'm Akasha; this is my sister Moka and our friend Mizore. Maybe after the first part of the exam is over we can go out and compare mission notes."

The look on Naruto's face showed clearly that he didn't understand what she really meant.

"Sure, sounds fun, I'll be sure not to kill you before then."

They just smiled and walked off, Akasha looking back at him over her shoulder as they went and winking.

"It's a date."

Turning back to the nine shocked faces of his fellow gennin Naruto raised his eyebrow in confusion.

"What?"

Kiba was the first to get over his shock, but could only say one thing.

"Dude, I've got to get in that book."

This was followed by the silent nods of Sasuke, Choji, Shikamaru, Shino and Kabuto.

XXX

**Before you have a go at me for Naruto knowing to much about seals remember his is smart enough to read an entire library in a few hours in this fic and as far as I'm concerned seals are all about comprehension and if someone is smart enough it is easy. Also I will make the odd serious chapter; it's all to help with the story. And just to make myself clear I used Moka, inner Moka (Akasha, couldn't think of a better name, sorry) Mizore from Rosario +vampire for my OC's but they have nothing to do with the anime. I'm just using their names and looks, please don't kill me.**

**P.S: I have nothing against people being gay and meant no offence. **

**P.P.S: I was originally going to do this as two separate chapter but changed my mind.**

**P.P.P.S(god thats a lot of P's) cheack out my poll, i think it should be up. i just want to get an idear of who you all think the pairing should be. i already have an idea but thought i'd ask.**

**Hope you like the chapter :)**

**R&R**


	17. Screams in the Forest

**Thanks for all your reviews. I hope this chapter is ok. :)**

XXX  
><strong>Disclaimer: I own nothing :(<strong>  
>XXX<p>

Chapter 17- Screams in the Forest

"ALL RIGHT YOU LITTLE SHIT'S, SHUT UP."

Turning to see the source of the shouting, the group of Konoha gennin, along with everyone else in the room saw a group of men and women stood together at the door wearing chunnin jackets.

At the front of the group was a large, broad shouldered man in a long black trench coat and his Konoha headband worn as a bandana over his head. He had two scars on his face, one running from the top left side of his head to his chin and a smaller one across his right cheek. His eyes were hard and he had a small smirk on his face that sent shivers down the spines of more then a few gennin.

"Right, now that I've got you ladies attention, take a seat. You will be quiet, and if anyone asks a question I will take great pleasure in throwing you out that window."

At his words they all hurried to sit in one of the chairs that were set around the room. All except Naruto, who just walked to one at the back of the room and sat _on_ the desk. He didn't realize until after he sat down that he was next to the girl with the white hair, Akasha, who just sat there and smirked at him out of the corner of her eye.

He also didn't notice that Ibiki had walked over and stood over him, waiting for the blonde to realise he was there. When Naruto realised that there was a shadow over him he turned to the imposing form of Ibiki and grinned.

"Hey, you know, you've got a lot of nose hair."

"Are you insane?"

"I'm not insane, everyone else is just boring."

"...Just sit in the chair."

"Ok"

Rolling back off the table and into the chair Naruto found himself upside down.

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

"I don't know, but apparently there's a poll going round, you should make a bet."

"I really want to hurt you."

"You know, a lot of people say that, wonder why."

"... It's a mystery."

Turning away from the odd boy and walking to the front of the room, Ibiki couldn't help but wonder where he had seen him before.

"Right, now that that's sorted lets get on with it. Being handed out to you now is an exam paper with 9 questions. You will have 45 minutes to answer them and at the end of that time I will give you all a 10th. Unlike most tests, where you get points for each correct answer, in this test you start out with 10 points and lose one for each wrong answer. Also, this test is graded as a team, meaning that if one of your teammates fails, you all do. The people around me are going to be watching you for any sign of cheating, if you are caught cheating you lose 2 points, get caught five times and your gone, no arguing, no exceptions."

As he was saying this several of the examiners handed out exam papers to the seated gennin. When that was done they positioned themselves around the room, Ibiki still at the front.

"Well, what are you waiting for, start!"

The room was filled with the sound of the papers being turned over.

Over the next 43 minutes 10 different teams were sent out for being caught cheating, some tried to put up a fight but were quickly dealt with by the chunnin around the room.

Throughout the entire time Ibiki didn't take his eyes off the blonde at the back of the room, who hadn't written a single thing the entire time, he hadn't even picked up his pencil, it wasn't until time was about to run out that he finally did something. Standing up from his seat Naruto walked over to a Rock-gennin in the chair in front of him, grabbed the hair on the back of his head and slammed it into his table. Without pause the blonde then reached around the unconscious boy and took his test, sat back down in his chair, just as time ran out, oblivious to the shocked faces of those in the room.

Raising an eyebrow at the boy Ibiki walked over and, just like at the start of the exam stood over him.

"What the _hell_ was that?"

"What?"

"Give me one reason not to throw you out right now."

"I only cheated once; you said 2 point off for each time we get caught cheating, so you can't do a thing."

Eyes locked, the two seemed to be in some kind of silent battle of the minds. They stayed like that for the next few minutes, neither braking eye contact. Until the older man let out a breath and went back to the front of the room and nodded to one of the chunnin. Walking up to the Rock-gennin and his teammates they were quickly escorted from the room, much to the protests of his teammates.

"Lets just get this over with; I need a drink, a very large drink."

As the papers were being collected in Ibiki explained about the 10th question.

"Right, before I give you the 10th question there are some new rules. First, if you get it wrong, you fail and can never participate in the chunnin exams again. So I'm giving you one last chance to quit, but if one quits your whole team quits."

The room was filled with shocked silents.

"You can't do that; people have taken this exam multiple times."

The grin that spread across Ibiki's face was almost enough to make Naruto jump up and shake his hand.

"They didn't have me as an examiner."

Another 5 teams left in the first few minutes following his words. Making his way over to the blonde boy, Ibiki tried to intimidate him into leaving.

"You sure you want to continue, if you get it wrong you and your team will be gennin for the rest of your life as ninja. You couldn't even answer the first 9, what chance do you have at the 10th."

This time it was Naruto that sent a shiver down Ibiki's spine.

"Who said I couldn't answer them, it was just more fun to knock him out and take his."

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

"I think I was dropped on the head as a baby, or it might be that paint thinner I drank when I was 4. What do you think?"

"...Fuck it, you all pass, I can't take it anymore, it's like talking to Anko when she's pissed."

"What about the 10th question?"

"There isn't one, the question was weather or not to take the question."

Before he could say anything else a cloth ball came smashing through the window and exploded into a banner that read '**The Sexy and Insane Uzumaki Naruto**'.

Many of the boys in the room were thrown back from nose bleeds at the sight of Anko, except for Naruto.

Falling off his seat from laughter Naruto, between deep breaths looked at the woman stood proudly in front of the banner.

"Hahaha, you forgot to change it back, hahaha!"

They could all see the tic mark form on Anko's forehead.

Storming over to the blonde, who was still rolling around on the floor, Anko loomed over him much like Ibiki had. Realising she was there Naruto froze.

"Hey Anko-chan."

"Hey squirt, so what's this I here about you and Tsume?"

"Please don't cut my nuts off again, they kissed me."

"...they?"

"...shit."

Raising her eyebrow at the exchange Akasha stood and walked over to them.

"Are you his girlfriend or something?"

Turning to face the Water-nin Anko laughed.

"Girlfriend? Hell no."

"Then why do you care who he kisses."

"Because he's the first guy I met that's not a pervert, so I'm making sure he stays that way, isn't that right brat."

"If I kiss a girl she'll cut my nuts off, if i say something perverted she'll cut my nuts off and if I look at a girl in a perverted way she'll feed me to a snake."

"...fair enough."

Ibiki chose that moment to intervene.

"As interesting as that is, you need to get on with the exam."

"Oh, right. Hey wait a minute why are there so many left, IBIKI you're losing your touch!"

"Just take the brats, I need a drink."

XXX

After everything had calmed down, and the boys that had fainted from blood loss had regained consciousness, Anko had led the gennin's from the exam room to a large fenced off training ground. It had a forest made up of giant trees, bigger than the ones that surrounded the village it's self and was surrounded by a twenty foot tall fence, with barbed wire running across the top and several signs saying '**training ground 44, do not enter**'. Every fifty feet or so were large steel gates numbered from 1 and they assumed straight up to 44.

As they got closer to the fence strange noises could be heard from the other side from deep in the forest, but because of the trees and the shadows in-between then they couldn't make out what made the sounds.

Something about the forest seemed wrong, almost evil. The way the shadows seemed to ripple and the sheer size and shape of some of the trees just put them all on edge. Well, most of them.

"Home sweet home."

They all looked to see Naruto walking up with his teammates, the huge grin on his face taking on an affectionate sheen as he gazed into the forest.

Turning to her teammate, Hinata got a worried look.

"This is the fenced off forest you told us about? It looks dangerous."

"That's because it is."

Jumping at the sudden appearance of Anko they all listened to what she was saying.

"What you see before you is the one and only training ground 44, otherwise known as the forest of death. In side is a host of strange animals that have, for unknown reasons, mutated into some of the most dangerous creatures you will ever face. Now sign these death wavers and we can get on with the second part of your test."

"Death wavers?"

"Yep, it's just to say that I and the village of Konoha are not responsible for anything that may, and probably will, happen to you while you are in the forest and that you are participating under your own free will."

After the forms had been handed out and signed Anko had them all crowd around a tent that had been set up near the gate numbered 1.

"Right, now that all the legal crap is out of the way let's get down to business."

As she was talking the purple haired kunoichi pulled out two scrolls, one brown and one white, both with a different kanji on them.

"These are the heaven and earth scrolls, get a good look, each of your teams will be given one scroll. The idea of this test is for you to acquire one earth scroll and one heaven scroll within the five day time limit and get to the tower at the centre of the forest. You will be taken to a different gate each and let in at the same time. Anything goes, killing, maiming, anything. When you get to the tower you will need all your team to be alive and in fighting condition or you will be disqualified. Oh, one last thing, don't open the scrolls until you're in the tower. Now line up and get your scroll."

Quickly doing as they were told the Gennin all line up outside the tent and were directed to their gates to wait for the signal to start.

Team 8 decided to give their scroll to Shino for safe keeping and made a quick plan of action. They decided to follow Naruto to a place he said they would be safe until they could plan further.

When the signal was given they shot off into the training ground without a second's hesitation and disappeared into the shadows of the trees, Naruto in the lead.

XXX

Team 8 had settled into a cave that Naruto knew about hidden under the roots of one of the large trees that made up the forest. The entrance was small, being only wide enough for them to enter single file, there was no light and it was soon obvious to Hinata and Shino that they were in a tunnel leading down at a sharp angle. Eventually they came out of the tunnel and into a large cavern about a hundred feet in every direction with a strange luminescent mould covering the walls and ceiling in patches of green light.

They could also tell that Naruto had been there before on the count of the weapons that had been hung on the wall at the far side of the cavern from where they had entered. There was more than they could count. Swords of different sizes and shapes, axes, hammers, staffs, some things they couldn't identify and others that looked like they were only half finished. There were three desks sat against another wall to their right and a small waterfall on the left that fed a small underground stream running through the cavern. They also noticed that the ground was covered in a large, intricate seal that neither of them had seen before.

After Naruto had explained the seals he had used on the weapons he made for them they had both decided to learn the basics of seals. It shocked them just how complex the craft was, one mistake, one line out of place and a seal could have unknown consequences. It could be as simple as it not working and go as far as blowing up in the sealers face. It had given them a new level of respect towards their blonde teammate, to be able to learn so much in such a short time was truly amazing. They could only understand the basics but what they did was enough to know it was impressive, whatever it did.

"Welcome to my home, I'd tell you to wipe your feet but the floor is made of mud."

"So this is where you live, I'm surprised you found somewhere like this in such a place."

Grinning at Shino for the compliment Naruto led them to a corner of the room where he had made several wooden chairs and sat down.

"So, how you want to do this."

Taking the seats next to the blonde Hinata and Shino thought about the best way to go about the exam. The fact that they now had a base of operation made thing easier, while other teams would be still looking for somewhere to set up, and they probably wouldn't find a place as secure as this, they could start to plan and get a step ahead.

Leaning forward so he would be heard Shino tried to some up what the situation was.

"The problem we have is that both Hinata and I are not straight up fighters, we are scouts. Although we can fight it is not our best area."

Nodding his head and taking on his serious attitude Naruto agreed.

"That's what I was worried about. You're both strong, but we don't know what the other teams are like, or what the next stage of the exam will be, which is why I think it would be best for you to stay here and I go and find us a scroll."

"We can't let you do that; it wouldn't be fare for us to let you do all the work."

"Shino's right, we need to work as a team."

"Just think about this for a second, I know this forest like the back of my hand and can move easier on my own. One is harder to see then three. I know that your both worried about being a burden to me but you're not, and I have more chakra and stamina then you both so it wouldn't affect me as much as you. If I spend three of the five days in the forest gathering scrolls I can spend the last day and a half resting here and we can move to the tower together."

They both thought about it for several minutes, they didn't like it, but it did make the most sense. Finally looking back up to the blonde Shino made eye contact and nodded.

"Very well, but if you're not back in three days we will come look for you."

"Spoil sport. You can get food from the seals on the desk."

Without another word Naruto left through the tunnel and was gone.

Turning to face Shino Hinata couldn't help but wonder.

"We just let the beast out of the cage, didn't we?"

"I fear so; I doubt he will stop at one earth scroll."

What had they unleashed on the other contestants?

XXX

Naruto loved being in the forest, his forest. Here he was king, the top predator, nothing could touch him here, he new every tree, rock and animal that lived here.

His feet barely touched the ground as he jumped from tree to tree, all his senses set to try and pick up something that didn't belong. It didn't take him long to come across two teams of Rock-nin that had teamed up for this part of the exam, and couldn't help the grin that stretched across his face. They thought they would be safer in a group, that was the mind set of prey. Make yourself look big, act confident and huddle together and hope you're not the one to be picked off. It made his blood sing in anticipation; he wanted to hunt, the thrill of the chase, to feel their flesh tear under his claws and their blood flowing through his fingers, their screams of terror when they realized that they would die.

He was going to enjoy this.

Walking forward out of the foliage, he didn't even try to sneak up on them, Naruto made his way towards the group.

It wasn't until he was a few meters away that they noticed he was even there, huge grins spreading on their faces when they recognised him. Stepping forward one of the boys looked him straight in the eye.

"You got guts, I'll give you that. But do you really think we'll let you live after what you did back in the first stage."

Naruto just laughed at him.

"What makes you think I'll let _you_ live?"

"There are six of us and... one... of."

The reason he trailed off mid sentence was because five Naruto clones had emerged out of the forest, all with the same grin on their faces.

"Hark hark the dogs do bark

The beggars are coming to town,

Some in rags and some in jags

And one in a velvet gown."

Their voices melding together into one as they sang and as they sang their bodies started to ripple and change. When they had finished the six Rock-nin lost their grins and huddled together in fear.

Where the Naruto's had stood were now six identical, _things_. Their skin was black, so much so they would blend in with the shadows of the trees around them. Their bodies had become insect like, with four long skinny arms and two legs. They had long whip like tails and long boney fingers tipped with razor like claws. But the most terrifying thing about them was their heads; the shape was the same except for the elongated muzzle like jaws filled with two rows of fangs and where their eyes should have been was smooth black skin.

Before the Rock-nin could prepare a defence the creatures had them surrounded and were moving in, hissing in anticipation of the kill.

Throughout the forest the other gennin teams stopped and shivered in fear as the air was filled with terrified screams that echoed off the trees for all to here. Several teams followed the screams to their source, but by the time they got there all they found was a clearing covered in blood and a severed head with an expression of absolute terror frozen on its face.

XXX

For the next three days teams would come across the same carnage as the first day, clearings covered in blood and body parts. Many had convinced themselves that it was the animals they had been warned about but not all were so sure.

XXX

Naruto was on his way back to his team. It had been a good hunt. Currently in the seal in his kunai pouch were 13 heaven scrolls and 15 earth scrolls. He was also carrying a stick decorated with the blood stained headbands of the teams he had killed. Rock, Grass, and Cloud headbands were tied to the stick to show off his kills.

It was on his way back to his cave that he came across an odd site.

Teams 7 and 10, along with a strangely dressed boy with a bowl cut hair style unconscious on the ground and a team from, if he remembered correctly, Sound.

What was strange though was that Sasuke had odd marks spreading across his skin that looked like black flames and was currently trying to pull the arms off one of the Sound-nin.

Walking out of the tree line and into the clearing so they could all see him Naruto pouted.

"What the hell, I'm supposed to be the only psychopath in this forest."

Taking the opportunity to run, Dosu and Kin leapt forward, grabbed Zaku and ran into the forest.

Sasuke didn't even seem to notice the Sound-nin had left; his red eyes were focused on the blonde and nothing else.

"Fight me."

Raising his eyebrows in surprise Naruto took a good look at Sasukes eyes.

"Why the hell are you high in the middle of the forest of death, seriously, that's _my_ thing."

Losing his patience and charging at the insane blonde, Sasuke let out a scream of rage and tried to tackle Naruto to the ground.

Sakura, worried Naruto might get hurt by the new stronger Sasuke tried to warn him, but before she could say anything Naruto had slapped a seal on his face and punched him in the gut. As he fell to the ground the strange flame like marks receded until all that was left was three black tomoe on his left shoulder.

Without looking at the shocked faces from the others in the clearing Naruto bent down and examined the mark with a critical eye. Naruto picked up Sasuke and slung him over his shoulder and turned to the others.

"Follow me, don't worry about the green guy, his team is in the tree above us, hey Ten-chan!"

Jumping down from the tree they were in Neji and Tenten bent down and picked up Lee between them. Before they left Tenten gave a nod in the blonde's direction and disappeared.

Without another word Naruto turned and started jumping through the trees, the rest of team 7 and 10 close on his heels.

XXX

Hinata and Shino were both unsure what to think when Naruto came back with an unconscious Sasuke on his shoulder and Teams 7 and 10 right behind him. Raising his eyebrow in curiosity Shino stood up from his chair and walked over to the group.

"Do I want to know why Uchiha-san is unconscious, or why you brought the others with you?"

"I didn't do it, well I might have knocked him out but he started it."

Walking up to the other teams Hinata sighed and led them to the chairs. As they went Naruto lay Sasuke down on the floor and started to draw a seal around him, Shino watching him as he went about it.

Ino, Sakura, Kiba, Shikamaru and Choji were all looking around the cavern with interest, especially when they saw the weapons on the wall. Walking up to them Ino was about to take one of the swords off the wall when she felt a hand on her shoulder, turning around she was confused to see Naruto stood behind her.

"Don't touch the bosses stuff."

"Boss?"

"I'm a clone."

"Oh."

Walking up to the two blondes Shikamaru looked at the wall.

"How did you find this place, and all these weapons?"

"Boss lives here and made those, most are prototypes, but some are finished."

Walking up to the wall Choji was surprised to see a long chain with a head sized steel ball at the end.

"This is my clan's new weapon made by the Faceless Blacksmith, why do you have one?"

The clone just looked at Choji for a moment, waiting for the light bulb to turn on. A few minutes later they all saw his eyes go wide in understanding.

"Oh"

"Troublesome, so your the Faceless Blacksmith, I guess we should be thanking you."

"Dude, I'm a clone. Hit me in the face and I explode."

As if to prove his point the clone ran into the wall and burst into smoke, leaving team 10 with sweat drops on the back of their heads.

XXX

An hour later Naruto had finished his seal and was ready to activate it. The black ink glowed blue and the seal on the young Uchiha's neck glowed purple in response. At some point Sasuke had started screaming and both Sakura and Ino were stood at the edge of the seal with worried looks on their faces.

As soon as he was done they ran to the still sleeping Sasuke and checked his neck.

"It's still there; I thought you were going to get rid of it."

"Are you mad, I wouldn't mess with a seal I don't know anything about. If I tried to remove it without understanding it fully I might trigger a kill switch."

Both girls gasped at that and pulled the Uchiha into a tighter hug, unwittingly strangling him.

"If you don't let him go I don't need to worry about a kill switch. He'll be dead."

As the two quickly backed away Shikamaru walked up to Naruto with his hand in his pockets and looked at the seal on the ground.

"If you weren't removing it, what were you doing?"

"Diagnostic, I was examining the seal while it was still fresh. But I think I should talk to the Hokage before I tell you anything."

"Troublesome, it's really that bad?"

Naruto didn't even bother to answer.

Walking over to the weapons on the wall Naruto moved to an empty spot and placed the stick with the headbands he had collected on the wall. It was the first time any of them had taken notice of the stick and it sent shivers down their backs when they realised what they meant.

Coming up behind him Shino looked over the headbands with a critical eye.

"I take it you got more then one."

With a grin on his face Naruto unsealed the scrolls he had collected and dropped them on the floor at Shino's feet. He then bent down and through one of each to Kiba and Shikamaru.

"You can rest here if you want but it's probably better if we get duck ass here to the tower for medical treatment."

Nodding their heads they all left and headed towards the tower.

XXX

It took them three hours to get to the tower.

Naruto had been serious the whole way and the others were starting to get worried about just what he had found out about the seal, he had never been serious for this long before.

When they got there they all entered the same room and before any of them had time to read what it said on the wall Naruto through one of each scroll onto the floor in front of them and stood back as they exploded in a cloud of smoke to reveal Kakashi.

Looking over the three teams he was surprised to see the unconscious Uchiha slung like a bag of potatoes over Naruto's shoulder. Seeing the look on the blondes face the one eyed jonnin moved toward them and looked over Sasuke.

"I need to speak with the Hokage, now. The snake was in my forest."

XXX

**Let me know what you think :)**


	18. Circle of Sloth

**Hope you enjoy the chapter :)**

XXX  
><strong>Disclaimer: I own nothing :(<strong>  
>XXX<p>

Chapter 18- Circle of Sloth

Naruto was stood in a small office that had been set up in the tower for the Hokage during the chunnin exam. It didn't have any windows and the wall paper, which might have been white at some point in the past, was peeling off the walls. The carpet was covered in a thick layer of dust and whenever he moved it caused a small cloud to rise into the air. In front of him, sat at an old wooden desk, piled high with a Kage's greatest enemy, paperwork was the old man himself.

He had a serious look on his face that was matched by the young blonde stood in front of him.

"So he's here already, he wasn't supposed to show up until the finals."

Nodding his head in agreement Naruto walked over and leaned on the desk.

"Exactly, something's not right. From what Temari and Kankuro told me, the plan was for him to kill you at the final in the chaos from the invasion. For him to risk showing himself early means he has a second motive, and Sasuke is at the centre of it."

They stayed in silent's for the next few minutes, thinking about what it all meant, when the door to the room opened and in walked Kakashi followed by the sand trio and Baki, their sensei.

They had been reluctant at first to reveal that they knew about the invasion to the Sand-jonnin, but it turned out they didn't have to. Two days before the exam started he had found a way to get to the Hokage without being noticed and told him of the impending invasion. It turned out that the whole thing didn't sit well with the man; he believed that an alliance was something that shouldn't be broken, a belief that had led him to betray his Kage, but in his eyes not his village but by the time he got there Hiruzen was already told by Naruto.

The man's surprise at being told what had happened to Gaara and the fact his seal was fixed had been enough to bring him to tears. He had been the guardian for the three kids for so long he had come to think of them as his own, even Gaara.

With his cooperation they had been able to effectively plan a counter for the upcoming invasion.

"What's this about; I thought we agreed not to meet before the invasion. It's too much of a risk."

Turning to see the group as they walked in, Naruto waited for them to close the door before he answered.

"That fucking snake was in _my_ forest."

At those words the almost always serious face of Baki turned shocked.

"Impossible, he's not supposed to be here until the last stage of the exam."

"Exactly"

Temari, Kankuro and Gaara were worried by the blonde's serious attitude. They hadn't known him long but it didn't seem right for the insane boy, it was even scarier then when he was acting crazy.

Over the next hour the 7 of them tried to think of what reason Orochimaru had for showing himself too early. Then came Naruto's explanation of the seal he had put on Sasuke.

"From what I can tell it's the completed version of the cursed seal that Anko-chan has. It's trying to convert his chakra, though I don't know what into. It seems to be thicker and more potent; his body doesn't like it and is trying to fight, like a disease. I also found a kill switch; we would have three attempts to remove it before it turned his chakra into pure poison and killed him. This is basically the same thing hers does. But unlike hers it also has a compulsion seal mixed into it."

At the blank looks on their faces the blonde let out a breath.

"It means that he will eventually go looking for Orochimaru. It will start like an itch at the back of his mind and will grow and grow until he can't stop himself. If we don't remove it, and soon, he will go to him."

This worried Sarutobi, he knew why his ex-student would want the boy and what it meant if he wanted him now, but kept his mouth shut.

"The last thing I picked up is that the seal is only half finished. There's a second seal that goes over the top of the one he has to complete it."

After his explanation Sarutobi thought through his options. If he let this go on someone would get hurt, but if he waited it might be their chance to take out the snake- sannin once and for all.

"We wait, it's obvious that he has his own agenda that we don't know about, but he still doesn't know we're on to him. We have the element of surprise and that's all we need. Kakashi, go and seal the cursed mark on Sasuke, he will be allowed to continue the exam, but keep an eye on him. Baki-san, you and your students continue trying to talk to your fellow villagers, this new turn of events might be all you need to push them to our side. Naruto I need you, and I can't believe I'm going to say this, to be yourself. But I also want you to look into the cursed seal, when the second stage is over there is someone I would like you to meet. He is an accomplished seal master and will be helping you with your research."

When he heard the old man's words Naruto grinned like he always did.

"Hehe, I think I can do that."

"Alright, now get out; I need to finish my paperwork."

XXX

For the last two days of the second part of the chunnin exam Naruto could be found in one of three places. In his room with the door locked, in the mess hall eating or with Gaara talking.

Ever since his seal had been fixed the red haired Sand-nin had become a lot more pleasant to be around, especially since he stopped crushing people with his sand, the fact that he could now sleep and the voice of his 'mother' was gone had improved his mood greatly.

When he was told about the whole mother thing Naruto had spent an hour rolling around on the floor laughing at the fact that the grate Shikaku was gender confused. It was also the first time Temari and Kankuro had heard their brother laughing at something that didn't involve killing.

During this time several other teams had arrived at the tower. The team from Rain, in their matching yellow jumpsuits and breather masks, they were a bit ruffed up, but it was nothing an hour or two of rest wouldn't fix. Not long after that the girls from Water had arrived. You wouldn't be able to tell they had just come out of the forest, their cloths were spotless and there wasn't a mark on their bodies. After them came Tenten and her team, shortly followed by the silver haired boy that they had met just before the exam started, Kabuto and his team. The last to make it to the tower, arriving just before the time limit ran out, was the three Sound-nin. The one that had his arms broken was rushed to the med ward and when he came out both his arms had been bandaged and put in slings.

When the time ran out for other gennin to get to the tower all the finalists were gathered together in a large room with an old statue of a pair of hands in a hand seal, a balcony running around the room looking down at a wide flat floor. Sat in a high backed chair on the balcony above the statue was the Hokage, and next to him was Anko, Kakashi, Asuma, Kurenai, Baki, a man wearing a cloth over his face and long coat to cover his whole body with a head banned with a musical note on it, another man wearing the same clothes as the rain gennin and a very attractive woman in a blue battle dress and her red hair tied in a high pony tail, a Kiri headband was around her waste like a belt, showing her to be a Water-jonnin.

As all the gennin moved so that they were in a line in front of the Hokage and the jonnin sensei's, Sarutobi stood and walked to the edge of the balcony to look down on the 24 finalist.

For the next few minutes they all listened as he explained about how the gennin exam was a replacement for war and that they should all be proud to represent their villages and ended with an explanation of why they needed a preliminary to bring down the numbers. But just as he was about to explain the rules he was interrupted by a Leaf-jonnin.

The man looked like he was about to keel over. He had dark bags under his eyes and his skin was so pale it was almost pure white. He wore the normal jonnin attire for a jonnin of Konoha with his head banned tied to his head like a bandana. As he spoke every few words were interrupted by coffing and he would be forced to stop to catch his breath.

"Thank you... Hokage-sama, but it's... my job from... here."

After receiving a nod from the aged man as he sat back in his seat, the ill jonnin turned back to the gennin.

"My name... is... Gekkou Hayate and... I will be... be the referee... for the... prelims. The... rules are... that you can... use any... thing you want to... to subdue your opponent... but if I... end the... match you must... stop. You will be disqualified if you... don't stop... or if someone... interferes... with the... match. Your names will... be randomly... selected by this machine."

As he said the last part the hands of the statue slowly started to part to reveal a large screen TV with pictures of them all with their names next to them.

"This is your... last chance to... quit. If you... do your teammates will... not be disqualified... but you will... need to leave... the tower."

For a moment no one said anything until, hesitantly, Kabuto raised his hand. Nodding his head at the silver haired boy Gekkou motioned towards the doors and Kabuto left.

They waited for a few more minutes but nobody else raised their hand so the ill looking jonnin turned to the screen.

The names and faces were replaced with a blank screen, but that disappeared to show two faces.

Sasuke Uchiha VS Akadou Yoroi

"Will those whose names did not show up on the board please move to the balcony, Sasuke Uchiha and Akadou Yoroi please move to the centre of the arena and prepare to fight when I give you the signal."

When they were all in place and everything was ready Gekkou moved in between the two teens and raised his hand. As he did this Yoroi got into a fighting stance and Sasuke drew his twin katana from his back and got into a low crouch.

"Ready... begin"

As soon as Gekkou's hand came down and he had jumped to the side of the arena, the two boys charged each other, Sasuke in a spin and Yoroi in a straight dash with his hands out.

By the time they met in the middle Sasuke had worked up enough speed to generate the momentum he needed. Every time Yoroi came at him with his bare hand one of the young Uchiha's blades would be ready to meet it, forcing him to pull it back.

Not that it was one sided.

No matter how hard he tried Sasuke couldn't get out of defence. Yoroi moved too fast and whenever he tried to shift into attack the older boy would try and grab his arm to stop his rotations. But the biggest problem was that he was reluctant to activate his Sharingan after Kakashi had warned him about the dangers of the seal on his shoulder. The one eyed jonnin had sealed it but he said that there was still a risk. This meant that the amount of time he could continually use the Drunken Spinner was drastically reduced.

They were at it for ten minutes straight, dodging and weaving around each other, trying to get the advantage to push things in their favour.

When they reached ten minutes Sasuke couldn't keep up his spin and jumped back to put some distance between them. The problem with this was because he was dizzy he couldn't defend himself from Yoroi when the masked gennin grabbed him by the throat.

It didn't take Sasuke long to realize what was happening when he felt his feet give out as he fell to his knees. This was bad, if he didn't break the hold on his neck soon he wouldn't have any chakra left.

Leaning back so that Yoroi was leaning over him Sasuke put his feet into the boy's stomach and kicked him into the air, breaking the hold on his throat.

"Lions Barrage"

As Yoroi was in the air Sasuke jumped up above him and kicked him several times in the back, ending with a particularly powerful kick that sent the boy shooting to the ground.

When the dust cleared it revealed Yoroi, in a crater a few inches deep, unconscious. Stepping forward to check the boy Gekkou proclaimed Sasuke the winner and moved out of the way as the medics took him.

After he was proclaimed the winner Sasuke made his way to the rest of his team. As he passed Naruto he gave the blonde a small nod and went to stand by his team.

Once they had taken Yoroi away Gekkou turned back to the screen to wait for the next pairing.

Zaku Abumi VS Aburame Shino

Nodding to his teammates Shino made his way down to the arena and met Zaku in the middle.

Even with both his arms in slings the Sound- gennin had a superior smirk on his face as he looked Shino up and down while the young Aburame just stared with his normal emotionless gaze.

Unlike with Sasuke and Yoroi, when Gekkou jumped away the two didn't move from where they stood.

Taking his left arm out of its sling Zaku raised it so it was pointing at Shino and shot out a blast of compressed air, the smirk on his face becoming a victorious grin when he saw that the bug user wasn't going to dodge, only for it to turn into a frown when the boy in front of him burst into a pile of bugs, with the real Shino nowhere in sight.

"What the hell?"

What happened next only the jonnin; Hokage and Naruto were able to follow. With speed that non knew he had Shino had appeared behind the Sound-nin and, extending his Wasp Point that he had hidden up his sleeve, stabbed him through the stomach.

The room was filled with shocked silents as Zaku stumbled forward, hand on his stomach and turned to face the Aburame.

"Y-you b-basterd"

"Surrender now and you can get medical treatment, if not I will be forced to kill you."

The smirk that stretched across Zaku's face was strained, and he was starting to sweat from the struggle to stay stood up.

"You t-think this is e-enough to stop me, HA!"

As he moved the hand away from the hole in his stomach and raised it to fire another burst of air Shino just shook his head sadly and, raising his own hand, clicked his fingers. The sound echoed off the walls and for another moment nothing happened.

Then, without warning Zaku started screaming at the top of his lungs and clawing at his skin in a panic. This went on for two minutes and when it stopped the young Sound-nin fell face first to the ground eyes wide and mouth open from his screaming.

It was then that they all saw a large number of bugs crawling out of the boy's mouth, nose, ears and wound in his stomach and make their way back to Shino.

Walking over to the downed Zaku and checking his pulse, Gekkou looked up at the Hokage and shuck his head.

As Shino walked up the stairs back to his team he was met with complete silents, but as soon as he was in reaching distance the bug user was pulled into a bone crushing hug from his blonde teammate.

"I'm so proud of you; I must be rubbing off on you. Hey, we should get you your own bandages."

"Thank you, but I will never wear bandages for anything other then an injury."

"Boring"

The next to be shown on the bored was Sakura and Ino. It was a pretty boring fight that ended in a double knockout that made Naruto laugh.

After they had been taken to the medical ward the screen yet again moved through the names and came to a stop.

Higashi Tenten VS Sabaku Temari

Again, this was another short match, unlike with Sakura and Ino, where they were equally bad; Tenten was just not able to get pas Temari's wind. Not that she didn't try, sending wave after wave of weapons at the blonde. In the en Temari was able to hit her with a quick wind attack that knocked her out.

Akashiya Moka VS Inuzuka Kiba

With an excited yell Kiba jumped down to the floor below and ran to his spot in the middle, while the pink haired Water-nin slowly made her way down the stairs to stand in front of him with a shy look on her face.

What happened next was something none would have expected.

As soon Gekkou had moved away Kiba had charged at Moka with the intention of tackling her to the ground. But as soon as he came close enough to see her face he came to a halt and stared at the girl with his mouth open and drool dripping onto the floor.

Up on the balcony Naruto had started to laugh.

Turning to the deranged blonde Sasuke asked.

"Do you know what's happening to Kiba?"

"She put him in a Glamour."

"A what?"

"It's a type of genjutsu that only affects the opposite sex, the more the victim finds the user attractive the stronger it is. Dog piss is fucked."

True to his words the match was called when Moka walked up to the dog like boy and held a kunai to his neck until the match was called.

"Cute and brains, I might just take you home with me."

Turning to see the white haired Akasha standing next to him Naruto just grinned while all the others were shocked that they didn't see her before.

"How did you know?"

"My sensei is a genjutsu specialist."

The smirk that crossed the Water-nins face was full of confidence.

"I see"

Uzumaki Naruto Vs 2

They were all confused by the name but saw one of the Rain-nin making his way down to the arena.

The grin on Naruto's face stretched to painful proportions and he jumped down from the balcony and landed in his spot across from the other gennin.

Before the match could start the blonde reached into his pocket and pulled out a coin.

Holding it up and flipping it they all watched as he caught it and looked at what it landed on. The already huge grin stretched wider and he pocketed the coin.

They all watched as Gekkou called for the match to start, absently noticing that he was already at the side of the arena when he did so.

"Just out of curiosity, what was the coin for?"

The Rain gennin's voice was slightly distorted by the mask on his face but they could all here what he said.

"I was deciding weather to kill you or main you. Want to know what I decided."

Without saying another word the yellow clad gennin sped through hand seals and disappeared.

Naruto seemed unaffected as he calmly reached into his kunai pouch and took out a pair of black fingerless gloves. None of those watching could see them very well but if they could they would have saw that they were covered in intricate seals in red and in the centre of his palm was a circle with another seal inside it.

After putting those on Naruto slammed his palm down with a yell.

"**Seven Sins:** **Circle of Sloth**!"

From the point where his hand touched the ground a circle of blue chakra spread out over the, not stopping until it reached 50 foot all around him. Inside the circle was the same seal that had been on the palm of his hand and when he stood back up the seal stayed on the ground, casting an eerie blue glow throughout the room and under Naruto's face.

No one new what it was for but watched with bated breath.

As soon as the Rain-nin stepped into the circle he became visible again and was hit with an ungodly pressure that slowed him down. It was like walking through glue, and the closer he got to Naruto the heavier the atmosphere became until he was unable to stand and lay on the floor at the blonde's feet.

"What... the... hell... is... this!"

Naruto just grinned at the boy lying at his feet and lifted his foot in the air, unaffected by the weight that had forced his foe to the ground and stomped on his head with his bandage covered foot. The Rain-nins skull gave way with little resistance and exploded in a small shower of gore.

Looking down at the boy's body Naruto smiled.

"Kill."

Just like when Shino had killed Zaku the room fell into complete silent's and as soon as he was declared the winner the circle faded and Naruto did a back flip back to his spot on the balcony.

While they cleaned up what was left of the Rain-nin there was a quick intermission.

Akasha had stayed where she had been throughout Naruto's match and had her usual smirk on her face, not affected by the gruesome death she had just witnessed in the least.

When Naruto came and stood next to her, grin back in place she decided to ask him what had happened.

"So, what's with the gloves?"

"Only an idiot would reveal their secrets to the competition."

"And?"

"Luckily for you I'm completely insane, which is better then being an idiot. I took the idea for training weight seals and added it to my gloves, the closer you get to the centre the heavier it gets. If you don't have the counter seal there's nothing you can do. It affects everything, people, weapons, everything."

"I'm impressed"

"With what?"

"Your seal"

"What seal?"

"... The one you just used."

"Oh, that, thanks"

"Your not joking when you say you're insane, are you?"

"If anything it's an understatement."

Throughout their exchange the smirk on Akasha's face turned into a genuine smile and she had moved a bit closer to the blonde.

XXX

What they didn't know was that a certain purple haired woman and her red eyed friend had been watching them the whole time.

"Shame he's got the awareness of a spoon."

"And whose fault is that?"

"It's for his own good."

"Are you going to stop him from being near her?"

"Not sure yet, I'll see what she wants with him first. For both their sakes lets hope its good, because if not he's going to lose it and Kami knows he's been through enough. "

Neither of them noticed the worried look that crossed the Water-jonnin's face when she heard what they were talking about.

XXX

The next few matches seemed to fly by.

Kankuro had almost no trouble with Kabuto's other teammate and Shikamaru was able to defeat the Sound-nin Kin. Choji had lost to Dosu, though he did manage to make the bandaged Sound-nin work for it.

Hyuuga Neji VS Hyuuga Hinata

This match had turned more then a few heads.

They could all see by the way the older Hyuuga had been glaring at his cousin and were interested to see what would happen. Neither of them were wearing their Hands of Kami and as they stood across from each other it was clear it would be an interesting fight.

The moment Gekkou moved the two Hyuuga met in a fierce battle with their clan style the Gentle Fist. No words were exchanged between them for the first few minutes of the fight, just the sound of heavy breathing as they weaved in and out of each others attacks. As the match went on the irritation on Neji's face became more and more defined, this wasn't right, fate had decreed he would be the winner, he was the prodigy and she was nothing.

Leaping back so he had space Neji looked at his cousin and smirked.

"You should just quit, you were never cut out to be a ninja."

Without answering Hinata lunged at her cousin and tried to send a strike to his left arm.

Dodging the strike Neji sent his own to her right and hit, forcing Hinata to put distance between them.

"You're a falier, a disgrace to the Hyuuga and you always will be."

Seeing that his words were getting to her Neji ran towards the trembling Hinata and hit her in the abdomen, causing her to fall to her knees and vomit a large amount of blood. Thinking it was over he turned to Gekkou and was about to tell him to call the match, only to see Hinata stand shakily to her feet and prepare to fight.

Seeing red Neji charged at Hinata and for the next 10 minutes continued to beat her around the arena floor. 8 times he knocked her to the ground and 8 times she got back to her feet, until finally, Gekkou called the match before she was killed.

The problem was that Neji, in his rage filled mind, didn't listen and moved in to strike her in the chest in an attempt to kill her where she stood.

He never reached her.

All the jonnin sensei had moved as one to intercept the boy but before they could reach him he was thrown across the arena and slammed into the far wall. When the smoke was cleared it was to the sight of both Naruto and Shino pinning him to the wall, Shino with his Wasp point inches from the Hyuuga's stomach and Naruto, his right arm morphed into a misshapen mess of grey muscles, holding him by the throat. From the way his face was changing colures it was obvious that the large hand wrapped around his neck was cutting off his airways and he couldn't breathe.

After a moment Sarutobi stood from his chair and turned to address the three boys.

"Let him go."

For a moment nothing happened and the jonnin moved to pull them off before they killed him.

Letting go of Neji they both backed away and without a word turned to check that Hinata would be ok, Shino's weapon sliding back into his arm and Naruto returning to normal.

"Another show of favouritism showed towards the main branch."

Both boys stopped mid step at his words and the jonnin prepared to move to stop them, thinking they would attack him.

Slowly they turned to face Neji again, both with blank expressions on their faces.

The look in their eyes sent a shiver down the young Hyuuga's spine.

Taking a step forward Naruto's blue eyes locked with Neji's white.

"Prey that you don't face either of us later on. The only reason you're alive right now is that Hinata asked us not to kill you if this happened."

At the shocked look on his face, Naruto laughed and Shino stepped forward.

"If anyone is a disgrace to the Hyuuga clan it's you."

XXX

After Hinata and Neji had been taken for medical treatment, the bored selected the next match up.

Sabaku Gaara VS Rock Lee

It was, to put it lightly, the best match they had seen so far.

Between Gaara's sand and Lee's speed after removing his weights they almost fort to a stale mate. But Gaara proved too much for the green spandex wearing gennin and he was taken away on a stretcher with a few cuts and bruises, but other then losing consciousness he was fine.

The last two matches didn't last long. It had been the two girls from water vs. the two boys from rain.

In both matches as soon as Gekkou had gave the signal to start the Water-nin had thrown a single kunai at their opponent before they could finish their hand seals and hit them in the chest, killing them instantly.

Throughout the room one thought went through everyone's minds at the same time.

'_How the hell did they get this far?_'

XXX

When the matches had been finished all the gennin that had won were brought to the arena floor and told to pull a ball out of a box to determine the matchups for the finals.

Uzumaki Naruto VS Hyuuga Neji

Dosu VS Aburame Shino

Sabaku Temari VS Nara Shikamaru

Uchiha Sasuke VS Sabaku Gaara

Shirayuki Mizore VS Sabaku Kankuro

Akashiya Moka VS Akashiya Akasha

When he saw who his opponent would be the grin on Naruto's face turned deadly and sent shivers down the spines of any that looked at it.

XXX

**Sorry about skipping a few of the fights but I didn't really see the point off writing some of them when they were pretty much the same. The reason I skipped over the water girls is because I want to save it for later chapters (evil grin). :)**

**R&R**


	19. Circle of Wrath

**Sorry about the late update, fell behind with some work so not had much time to write. Hope you enjoy the chapter :)**

XXX  
><strong>Disclaimer: I own nothing :(<strong>  
>XXX<p>

Chapter 19- Circle of Wrath

It had been a week since the semi finals in the tower at the forest of death and Naruto found himself wondering around the village, bored out of his mind. He could train for the final, but he trained all the time anyway and already knew what he was going to do so there wasn't much point going overboard.

Shino was training with his family for the next month and Hinata was still in hospital. He had gone to visit her only once to check she was ok and tell her he would be facing Neji in the finals.

Her reaction wasn't a surprise to the blonde, fear; she had been scared of what he would do to him. They had spent the next hour talking and Hinata had told him what had happened with her uncle and the caged bird seal. She hadn't let him leave until he had promised not to kill Neji; he was a lot of things but never a liar. He would keep his word and not kill the Hyuuga, but that wouldn't mean he wasn't going to make him wish for death.

The grin that spread across Naruto's face as he walked at the thought of what he had planned for the foolish Hyuuga made several villagers practically run away in fear.

The seal on Sasuke's neck that the old man had asked him to study was one thing that he didn't find boring. He hated to admit it, but there was no denying that it was a true piece of art. The way the snake had fused the seals into one without killing the host outright was impressive, but from what he could see it would still kill 8 out of 10 people that it was applied to.

It was actually because of the seal that he was in the village now. The Hokage wanted him to meet with a seal master to try and compare notes. Apparently the guy had been working on the seal on Anko-chan for several years and with Naruto's results from the completed version they might be able to remove it completely.

The only thing was that the old man didn't actually tell him who it was he was supposed to meet; all he knew was that they would be at the Konoha bath house and that he wasn't allowed to kill him, something that had made the blonde pout when he was told.

When he finally arrived at the bath house Naruto spent the next 10 minutes searching the area for the mysterious seal master. It was on his third time circling the fenced area that he came across an odd sight.

Sat at the fence to the women's bath was an old man with his face pressed to a small hole in the fence that he had obviously made and a small note pad and pencil in his hands. He wore a grey shirt and pants with a red sleeveless jacket. He had a strange forehead protector with the kanji for oil in the middle and two small horn-like protrusions on either side of it and long spiky white hair that trailed to his hips.

Naruto didn't know his name but he did remember him. It was the man that would come and upgrade his chains when he was in the School.

The grin on the blondes face stretched wider as he realized what the old pervert was doing and silently made his way over to the man without him realizing.

XXX

Jiraiya was having the time of his life, the women in the bath were some of the most beautiful he had ever seen. And the size of their tits was giving him a nose bleed. He was getting so much research done he could make an entire book out of what was before him!

The fact that it was the Kunoichi only bath just made it better; they were always the best because of all the training.

So engrossed in the sights before him he didn't even notice the blonde boy sneaking up behind him with a large stick until it was too late.

The scream that escaped the toad-sannin's mouth was so loud it alerted the women on the other side of the wall to his presents and had them all rushing to get towels to cover themselves up.

The reason he had screamed was because of the large wooden stick that had been shoved up his ass.

Tears falling down his face he desperately tried to pull the stick out, completely forgetting the fact that he had just been caught by a group of sexy Kunoichi.

When the group of now pissed off women arrived, fully clothed, at the other side of the wall it was to an old man crying on the floor with tears in his eyes and a large stick poking out his ass, and a blonde boy rolling around on the ground a few feet away laughing.

Figuring out what had happened they all gave grateful grins in the blonde's direction and moved to surround the still crying Jiraiya.

For the next 10 minutes the group of Kunoichi proceeded to beat the white haired pervert to within an inch of his life. Satisfied that he had suffered enough they left the man on the ground, bleeding and bruised, with the stick still in his ass.

Finally getting control on himself Naruto stood up and made his way over to the downed sannin.

Looking up at the boy Jiraiya could only say one thing.

"Why?"

Grinning down at the man Naruto bent and picked up the note book and gave it a quick look over, then tore it up and stomped it into the ground in front of the perverts face.

"I don't like perverts, if I catch you doing this again I'll use a red hot metal pole instead of this stick."

As he said this, the blonde reached out, grabbed the stick and gave one big pull, causing the sannin to let out another, more subdued scream and through the stick into a bush a few feet away.

"So, can you walk or am I going to have to carry you, I want to make a start on the seal and the old man says you are going to help. So get the hell up already, you'd think you never had a stick shoved up your ass before."

"... Have you?"

"Hell no, that would hurt like hell."

It was at this point that Jiraiya was able to get a good look at his blonde tormenter.

Long blonde hair, tall, covered from head to toe in thick whit bandages, the only reason he didn't recognise him sooner was the change of clothes.

Despite what had just happened the old sannin couldn't help the smile that spread across his face at the sight of the boy out of his chains. Then the first part of his words hit him.

"Seal, you're the one that the old monkey got to help me?"

"Yep"

"You"

"Yep"

"I'm not going to survive an entire month with you, am I?"

"Probably not"

XXX

Over the next two weeks Jiraiya and Naruto spent almost all their time in the blondes cave leaning over seals.

The reason it was only almost was because the toad-sannin had tried several times to sneak off to spy on women.

Every time he was caught and every time the boy would come up with a new punishment.

The first time Naruto had put an enraged weasel in the older man's pants, the second had found Jiraiya tied upside down with a gag in his mouth suspended above the men's bath. The third had, well the end result had him running around the village being chased by an army of women.

But by far the worse was when the blonde had given him a wedgey that had made his voice sound like he had been sucking on helium. After the first week he had given up for fear of his health, and his manhood.

Despite everything that had happened Jiraiya had to admit he was impressed with the young blonde's skills when it came to seals, he knew that it wouldn't take long for the boy to surpass him in every way.

Between the two of them they had broken down the cursed seal to its bear components and found out that without seeing the other half of the seal they didn't have enough information to attempt removing it.

When they had come to this conclusion they decided to spend the rest of the time looking over some of the seals Naruto had been working on, some basic, some odd, some brilliant and some impossible.

The things the blonde could do with a seal amazed Jiraiya, the complexity of them, the fact that he had come up with the ideas himself and that they actually worked was beyond impressive and like so many before him the old sannin found himself wondering if the boy was a genius or just completely insane.

XXX

The finals were a week away and Naruto was, yet again, bored.

He had enjoyed torturing... working with the sannin but he was going to be working with the old man making sure everything was prepared for the invasion that was to come.

Wondering the village yet again he soon found himself standing outside a very familiar ramen stand.

It had seen better days, the wood that it was made from looked like it was going rotten and the red blind that was used to cover the front had several holes, not big enough to see the people inside, but almost.

Standing outside the stand brought back many memories from his childhood, and unlike most, they were good.

This was one of the only places he had felt happy, one of the only places he had been accepted. Old man Tuchi and his daughter Ayame had been like family, they fed him, clothed him and cared for him when he was hurt and the hospital would send him away.

He hadn't set foot in there since he was released, hadn't seen the old man and Ayame for 5 years. It wasn't that he had forgotten them, he would never forget them, but he didn't feel he had a right to see them. After everything he had done, the way he was now, it just wouldn't be right.

They wouldn't care for him, not now; the insane killing machine that he had become was nothing like the sweet, lonely boy they knew. If they saw him now he knew they would hate him just like everyone else.

Letting out a sigh at the memory, Naruto turned away from the store and was about to make his way down the street when he heard a gasp from behind him and the sound of bags falling to the ground. The next thing he knew someone had latched them self to his back and started to cry into his bandages.

Normally when someone grabbed him and started crying it was followed by screaming and hitting, but this time it was different. Guessing from the hands that had wrapped around his waist he knew it was a woman, and the faded burn marks on her hands told him she cooked. He was so shocked by the woman's actions that it took him a full 2 minutes to comprehend what had happened.

Turning to look at her over his shoulder Naruto was greeted with the sight of a tear stricken Ayame. She looked almost exactly like he remembered, the worn brown dress, shoulder length brown hair tied back into a ponytail. She was even wearing the same white apron he had always seen her in when she worked behind the counter. The only thing that was different was that she looked a little older and the dark marks under her eyes.

It was then that he heard her talking, slightly muffled because of the way she had her face pressed into his back.

"We thought you were dead. Five years, five years and nobody knew where you were. Why didn't you come sooner?"

He didn't know what to say.

This wasn't right; she was supposed to hate him, why was she crying for him when she was supposed to hate him? Maybe they didn't know what he had become?

"I think you have me mistaken for someone else."

She didn't show any sign that she had heard him.

"When Hokage-sama told us what had happened and that you were released we were so happy, but you never came back. We waited and waited but you didn't come."

All thoughts that she didn't know who he really was flew out of Naruto's mind.

This wasn't right! Why didn't she hate him like all the rest? Why would she be happy?

Before he could ask Ayame let go of him and, after quickly collecting the shopping bags that she had dropped, pulled him into the stand.

The inside wasn't much better than the outside. The counter was worn and the stools had seen better days, one of them was actually missing the seat.

"Dad, he's back! Naruto's back!"

They both heard the sound of pottery falling to the ground in the back of the store and the hurried footsteps that followed it. Bursting out of the door behind the counter, an out of breath Tuchi ran up to the blonde and pulled him into a bear hug, tears in his eyes.

Naruto said nothing, frozen in place.

When he let the boy go, Teuchi took a step back to get a proper look at him and a small frown crossed his face.

"When the hell did you get so fucking tall?"

Staring blankly at the two people in front of him as Ayame pulled out a frying pan and hit her farther round the head for swearing Naruto was about to run when he was pulled to one of the seats at the counter, a menacing aura surrounding both father and daughter as they looked at him.

"You're not going anywhere. You're going to sit down and eat the ramen we are going to make you and then you're going to explain why this wasn't the first place you came when the Hokage let you out of that place. Got it?"

Debating in his mind if he should just turn into a mouse or something and run, Naruto let out a sigh and started telling them about his life since they had last seen him, leaving some things out of course.

XXX

For the next few hours they talked.

Both Ayame and Teuchi had been saddened at the way he was chained, but had laughed at some of his antics since he had got out. He didn't tell them he was the Faceless Blacksmith, or that he had killed so many people, but did tell them some of the things that had happened in wave.

And in turn Naruto learned why the stall was in such poor condition. Apparently they had been turning away anyone that spoke bad about him and it didn't take long for word to get around that they were 'demon lovers'. Because of this business had been very slow and they were having a hard time getting by.

It was when Naruto was finishing his 50th bowl of ramen that the flap opened and in walked Zabuza and Haku. But what surprised him was that they were followed shortly by the team from Mist and their Jonnin sensei.

When they saw he was sat there both Zabuza and Haku quickly hid their surprise and walked over to greet him.

"What the hell are you doing here brat? I'd have thought this place too boring for you."

Grinning at the older ninja Naruto stood up and flicked him in the forehead.

"No-brow! How you been?"

They could all see the tick mark that was forming at the back of Zabuza's head.

"Until now, good."

"Aww, don't be like that, you know you love me really.

"If I had my sword I'd cut you in half."

"And if you did that I'd rip your eyes out and replace them with your balls."

"Mummy boy"

"No-brows"

"Scarecrow"

"Overcompensate much with that huge sword you're always carrying around."

"What did you say?"

They carried on like this for the next ten minutes, throwing insult after insult at each other. For Teuchi, Ayame and Haku it was very entertaining but for the 4 Mist-nin, it was one of the strangest things they had ever seen, something that was clear by the slightly shocked looks on their faces.

Just when it looked like the two were about to start fighting Haku intervened.

"It is good to see you Naruto-san."

"Oh, hey Haku-chan, so you're out of the hospital?"

"Yes, they released me about a week ago."

"Still hanging out with duck-ass?"

The blush that came to her face was all the answer he needed.

Nodding his head Naruto turned back to the counter and ordered another bowl of ramen, his fight with Zabuza forgotten.

"So any reason you 6 are together and not trying to kill each other?"

At his words they all froze and the room was filled with an uncomfortable silence.

Unaffected by the tense atmosphere, Naruto pulled his new bowl towards him and started eating.

Sharing a quick look with his fellow Jonnin Zabuza nodded and sat on the blonde's right and ordered some ramen. He was shortly followed by Haku and the other girls with Haku next to Zabuza, Akasha next to Naruto, leaning toward him, her sister next to her and their sensei and Mizore at the end.

When they had all received their orders Zabuza turned to Naruto and spoke.

"You already know the girls; this is their sensei, Mei Terumi, an old friend of mine."

Without looking up from his bowl Naruto replied.

"Meaning you used to fuck her."

Both Zabuza and Mei nearly choked on the ramen and the others started laughing.

After finally getting a hold of themselves Zabuza and Mei, with red faces, turned to the still eating blonde and, clearing her throat, Mei asked.

"W-what makes you say that?"

"I can smell your perfume and no-brows actually had a bath, this is the first time I can remember smelling soap on him."

The blushes on their faces, if possible, increased ten-fold.

Lifting up his bowl Naruto drained the last of his ramen in one go. When he was finished the blonde turned away from the counter, jumped off his seat and moved towards the flap. Just before he left Naruto through a role of money onto the counter, much to everyone's shock.

"Food of the gods, that's for today, when I was little and for whatever they order, treat them well old man."

And with a wave of his hand he was gone.

Nodding to the Mist-nin Tuchi moved to the back of the store to talk to his daughter and give them their privacy.

All mirth gone from their faces Mei turned to Zabuza.

"Are you sure he can help?"

"I'm sure; you weren't there, that kid can do things you wouldn't believe. The fact is he scares the shit out of me."

The surprise on the Mist-jonnin and her gennin's faces was clear.

"You're joking right."

Shaking his head and eating more of his food Zabuza seemed to get a far off look in his eyes.

"I don't know what they did to him, but whatever it was... the kid is broken. People think I'm a demon because of the things I do, but I always have a reason and a limit to what I'd do. He has no reason, no limit; he could, and probably will, do worse than anything I could ever do. This is why I don't like your plan. He would probably agree to help us if I told him he could kill people."

"You have your ways and I have mine."

Shaking his head and nodding towards Haku they both got up and started heading out.

"Whatever, just remember I warned you."

XXX

The sound of thousands of voices echoed around the village, all talking about one thing.

It was the day of the finals for the Chunnin exam and people had been coming from all over the elemental nations to watch a group of teenagers kick the crap out of each other. Dignitaries and commoners alike had come to watch and all were excited to see what would happen, and of course, make a few bets.

The arena that was to hold the exam was the biggest building in the entire village, bigger than even the Hokage tower, with enough seats for all. The shadow it cast over the crowd as they made their way through the large archway was intimidating for any that hadn't seen it before.

But something none of them were expecting was to hear the sound of a violin over the excited chatter as they came into the seating area. The sound stopped almost all conversation as it reached their ears and all eyes were drawn towards the centre of the arena.

It had been set up to look like a real landscape, with uneven ground and a few trees it was as real as they could make it. The ground was just dirt, no grass growing or flowers; the trees were small but would be enough for cover and spaced out so it wouldn't be an obvious hiding spot.

And in the middle of the arena was a tall blonde boy covered in bandages, eyes closed, sat on the ground playing a beautiful black violin with a red lining. It also had red strings with the bow being in the same colure scheme. The music being played seemed to hypnotise the crowed, drawing them in. None could look away.

They didn't even notice that the other contestants were stood around him.

Like the crowd they were in a trance, the only exceptions seemed to be Shino, Gaara, Temari and Kankuro. Even Neji was entranced; though he hid it well behind a scowl. As more and more people came in the seats filled up and soon enough it was full of people, all looking down at the strange boy.

Up at the top of the arena in a small booth set up for the Kage's Sarutobi sat in a chair listening to the music, but unlike the crowd he wasn't affected by the genjutsu laced into the notes. He loved to hear Naruto play, it was the only time the boy didn't seem like he was about to rip someone's throat out.

Stood next to him acting as his guard for the exam was Jiraiya, looking down at Naruto with the same look on his face as his old sensei.

The only other people with them though were the Kazakage and his bodyguard, both wearing white robes and clothes to cover their faces. The only thing that told them apart was the blue and white hat that rested atop the Kazakage's head.

The Mizukage wasn't able to come because of the civil war and no one knew anything about the Otokage, at least, as far as Orochimaru knew. The second the snake-sannin stepped into the booth Sarutobi knew it was him and had Jiraiya send one of his toads to Baki, hoping it would be the final piece in trying to stop the Sand-nin from attacking.

When he was sure that the arena was full, the aged Hokage stood and walked to the edge of the booth so all could see him. Clapping his hands to get their attention he felt a sweat drop form on the back of his head when he realised Naruto was still playing.

"Naruto, can you stop, I need to address the crowd!"

At the words the blonde halted his playing and sealed the instrument in a seal drawn on his right leg and sent a pout to the Hokage.

"No fair, I was about to make them dance the funky chicken."

Shaking his head at the boy and turning to the slightly dazed crowd Sarutobi announced they were about to begin.

As he said this a man appeared next to the group of young ninja.

He had shoulder length brown hair and a Konoha headband tied to his head like a bandana with the metal plate at the back. He wore the normal Jonnin uniform, a blue body suit and a flak vest. In his mouth was a senbon and his face showed indifference to what was going on around him. Stepping towards the group he announced, in a bored voice.

"Uzumaki Naruto and Hyuuga Neji, get into your positions. The rest of you go to the competitor's box and wait for your turn."

When they had all left except the two boys the man turned to them. Seeing the Hyuuga in his family stance and the blonde just stood there smiling he shrugged his shoulders and started his speech loud enough for all to hear.

"Right, my name is Genma Shiranui and I will be the ref for the finals of the Chunnin exam. The rules are simple, first to fall unconscious or die will be the loser and move on to the next round. If I tell you to stop or your opponent surrenders you must stop and if you fail to comply you will be disqualified. Understand?"

At both there nods he raised his hand in the air and dropped it down, signalling the start of the match and disappearing in a swirl of leafs.

The entire arena went silent; waiting to see which of the boys would make the first move.

For a moment neither of them moved, both staring into each other's eyes, Neji's cold and Naruto's gleeful.

"You should give up, fate has already decided that I will win this tournament, a nobody like yourself has no chance against the might of the Hyuuga clan."

The smile on the blondes face turned into a wide grin at his words.

"So you're a psychic?"

"Excuse me?"

"Well, you claim that fate has already declared you the winner, but even if that was true the only way you could know that is if you were psychic."

"I'm not a psychic."

"So you were just bull-shitting, you must have really low self esteem if you need to try and scare someone like that to give yourself an edge in battle."

The cold expression on Neji's face turned to anger.

"How dare you insult a Hyuuga, we are the strongest cl-

SMACK!

The arena was filled with stunned silents at what had just happened.

Getting up off the ground with a hand on his left cheek Neji looked at the boy in front of him with a mix of both shock and anger.

"What did you just hit me with?"

Giving a curios look to the item in his right hand Naruto shrugged and through it over his shoulder.

"A kitchen sink I found in an ally, it had a dead cat in it when I found it... can't remember what I did with it."

Pushing his rage back down so he could concentrate, Neji got back into his stance and charged Naruto without another word.

As soon as he got within striking distance he sent a strike straight to the blonde's chest, hoping to end the match early and kill the boy for insulting him.

What he wasn't expecting was for Naruto to bend back away from his strike so far that his head almost touched the floor. Instead of standing back up Naruto carried on with the movement and brought his feet up to kick Neji in the stomach with both his feet, sending the Hyuuga back several feet.

Though he was slightly winded Neji was able to stay on his feet, being more careful of the blonde.

This time when he was within range he sent a chakra powered strike to Naruto's right arm and followed up with another to his waist. Both were avoided with practiced ease and he received another kick to the stomach.

Instead of rushing in this time Neji took a step back to try and assess the situation. From what he had seen in the prelims the boy had a strange Jutsu that made it so he could change his body, but for some reason he wasn't using it. This meant one of three things; it had a drawback that made him reluctant to use it, he was saving it for later or he didn't think he was worth using it on.

The thought of this no-clan ninja looking down on him made him so mad he wanted to kill him, but his pride wouldn't let him show it.

Another thing he had noticed was that the blonde was extremely flexible, something he was using to his advantage to avoid his strikes.

Taking this into account Neji decided to wait for him to attack.

But instead of attacking Naruto put his hand in his kunai pouch and pulled out a pair of black fingerless gloves.

Remembering what had happened to the Rain-nin; Neji quickly jumped back to what he assumed would be a safe distance.

Without looking towards the Hyuuga Naruto started to pull the gloves onto his hands.

"You know, seals are truly unappreciated in the world of ninja. If you know what you are doing you can make them do anything, from an explosion tag to a strengthening seal. You can even use them to replace hand seals, but enough of that."

Slamming his right hand on the ground Naruto called out.

"**Seven Sins:** **Circle of Wrath**"

Just like last time when he activated the gloves a seal shot out of his hand and spread out. But unlike the last time it was a different seal and the circle covered the entire arena floor, the whole 100 meters, lighting the arena up with the same eerie blue light as in the prelims.

Bracing himself for the crushing weight to hit him like it did the Rain-nin Neji almost laughed when nothing happened. Turning to the blonde he let a small smirk cross his lips.

"Your seal failed, I don't feel anything."

"This isn't the same seal as the one I used in the exams."

Without explaining what he meant Naruto ran to Neji and sent a right handed punch to his stomach, which Neji used as his chance and sent a strike to his wrist. Taking his chance Neji quickly followed up with a strike to his upper right arm, forgetting the seal completely.

Jumping back with a smug look on his face the white eyed boy looked at his work and it was then he noticed the glowing blue seal on Naruto's stomach and, following the boy's eyes, saw an identical seal glowing on his own stomach.

The grin that came to the blondes face was starting to make him nervous.

It was then that he felt pain in his right arm. He was so surprised that he forgot to keep up his calm act and, grabbing his arm in pain, let out a yell.

Hearing laughter, Neji turned back to Naruto to find him laughing.

With a scream of rage Neji lunged at Naruto and hit him in the stomach, only to double over in pain. Looking at the blonde he let out another scream when he saw the grin still in place.

Getting back up he started to strike him over and over again, ecnoring the pain. The grin never left Naruto's face.

"You know, Hinata told me about your clan... and you're father."

He could feel the rage building.

"Shut up"

"Shame that you would spit on his memory like this."

"Shut up!"

"All this talk about fate and how it's pointless to fight it, but that's exactly what you're doing now."

"I SAID SHUT UP!"

Finally giving into his rage Neji sent a strike straight to Naruto's chest.

Naruto didn't even try to stop him, just stood there and let him hit him. The strike sent him flying back from the Hyuuga several feet and both collapsed to the floor, blood coming out of their mouths.

"Well, that was fun; you're not dead are you? I promised Hinata I wouldn't kill you."

Getting to his feet Neji glared at Naruto, breathing deeply and ripped his head protector off his head. Revelling to all the seal placed on his forehead.

"This is the sign of enslavement among the Hyuuga clan given to us at birth for no other reason but to be the slaves of the main house! You have no idea what it's like to be treated like nothing because of a seal that you had no choice in!"

"Wow, you're really retarded, you know that."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Getting back up and placing his hand on his stomach.

"Use you're all seeing eyes and tell me what you see, I know more then you could ever understand."

Doing what he was told Neji looked at the boy's stomach and, when he concentrated, he could just make out the seal on his stomach under the one that was visible for all to see.

He barely took notice of how he couldn't actually see what the boy looked like under the bandages, at the sight of the seal Neji lost all reason and made to charge yet again. What did he know of his pain, what did he know of the pain of losing the only true family he had because of the cowedness of another?

When he was close enough Neji got into a stance and announced.

"**Eight Divination Signs, Sixty-Four Palms of the Hand!**"

For the next minute Naruto was as helpless as a training dummy as he had all his chakra points sealed.

When he was done Neji took a step back and looked down at the blonde. Then fell to his knees and started hacking up blood. Glaring at the still form off Naruto, he and all those watching were shocked when the blonde burst into a puddle of blood.

Still coughing, Neji shakily got to his feet and looked around the arena for his opponent.

It was then that the sound of a violin filled the air just like before the exam started. Turning to look at one of the trees the young Hyuuga saw an uninjured Naruto sat at the top on a branch, playing his violin and grinning down at him.

The fact that he didn't have a scratch on him was the most shocking.

"W...what th...the hell is... goin... going on."

"It's called a **Blood Clone**; I found a reference to them and recreated it. One pint of blood and a hundred shadow clones worth of chakra and you have yourself a clone that can take a hit and has about 20% of your overall chakra. I switched with it after I first sent you back, nobody saw because they were all looking at you."

The implications of his words hit Neji like one of Gai-sensei's fists. He had been fighting a clone the whole time that was only 20% as strong as the original, he never had a chance. Looking at the seal that was still on his chest he suddenly saw the fin line of chakra that was connecting it to the seal on the ground.

Seeing what he was looking at Naruto laughed, never stopping his playing.

"Like it, another seal I made, or remade I guess. I got the idea from an old religion I read about that could make someone share their injuries, but I went one step further. Something I didn't explain about my **Seven Deadly Sin **seals that I created is that they react to both emotion and personality. The more you are guilty of the sin that the seal represents, the stronger the effects, take Wrath for example. Whatever you do to me happens back to you but, and here is where the true genius comes into play, the angrier you are the more damage you receive."

Realisation suddenly bloomed in Neji's white eyes, which had just turned off the **Byakugan** due to the loss of chakra to maintain it.

"You had your clone make me angry to make the damage more severe."

"Yep"

It was at this point that Neji fell face first to the ground and had just enough strength to turn around onto his back and look up at the sky.

The music stopped and he could hear the sound of feet hitting the floor and footsteps coming towards him.

"You said you knew what it was like to have a seal ruin your life."

He couldn't see him, but Neji knew he was right next to him.

Looking down at the prone form of the Hyuuga, Naruto got a thoughtful look in his eyes and looked around at the crowed.

Now that they were over their shock at what had happened almost all of them were cheering and screaming for him to finish the boy off.

It sickened him.

He had a reason why he could kill without remorse, they didn't. What right did they have to call for the blood of another?

Taking a deep breath Naruto reached up and slowly started to remove the bandages on his face.

The whole arena fell silent when they saw his face, the scars and missing parts of his face. The fact that it looked like it was melted. The fact that he was still grinning even though he didn't have a whole face made it look all the more sinister.

Turning from the crowed to the horrified face of Neji Naruto said loud enough for all to hear.

"I am the True Horror of Konoha; a representation of what this village is truly like behind the mask they have made for themselves, I am this village's biggest regret!"

Just before Neji lost consciousness Naruto bent down and whispered so only he could hear.

"You think that all the main branch treats you like a slave, but tell me this, has Hinata ever used the cage bird seal on any of you?"

It was this that was the last thing he heard before being pulled into the sweet abyss that was unconsciousness.

XXX

By the time Genma turned made it to the boys Neji was out and Naruto had, thankfully, replaced his bandages. It had looked bad from a distance; he didn't want to see it close up.

He had to admit, he was impressed, the boy had just defeated one of the favourites in the finals without even getting a scratch. If anything it was more like Jonnin level, not Chunnin.

XXX

As soon as he declared Naruto the winner the blonde was gone and the medics ran out and took the Hyuuga to the medical bay. But when they got there they were all shocked to find a dead cat stuffed in the boy's jacket.

XXX

Up in the Kage booth Sarutobi had a sad look on his face, he couldn't even deny what Naruto had said, he was a representation of everything bad about the village. But hopefully after the exams that would change.

Next to him Jiraiya had the same face as the Hokage. It was the first time he had seen under the bandages and it sickened him what had happened to Minato and Kushina's son. But what really got to him was that he could have prevented it. If he had taken the boy like he was supposed to this would never have happened. With Minato's death and Kushina disappearing on the night of the attack it should have fallen to him to look after the boy, but he couldn't, not so soon after Minato's death.

And he would always regret that.

XXX

As he made his way up the stairs to the contestants box Naruto ran into both Shino and Dosu. The sound-nin sent him a small, almost unseen nod and walked on, but Shino stopped and looked at him for a moment.

"Would it be pointless to ask if you are ok?"

"Yep"

"Very well"

Without another word Shino started to make his way to the arena floor, but stopped when Naruto spoke.

"Remember what we talked about, the less of them there are, the easier it is for us later."

"I understand"

XXX

**Well that it, hope you liked it :)**


	20. Parades

**Hey, sorry about the late update, hope you enjoy the chapter :)**

XXX  
><strong>Disclaimer: I own nothing :(<strong>  
>XXX<p>

Chapter 20- Parades

As he made his way to the contestant's box, where the rest of the Gennin were waiting for their turn to fight, Naruto's thoughts went to what was about to happen.

He didn't really care if other Sand-nin joined the attack, Sand, Sound; it was all the same to him. The only real difference it made was how many he could kill. They knew that Orochimaru was going to signal the invasion at some point during Gaara's match, but now that Shukaku wasn't a problem anymore it would undoubtedly change his plans.

Thoughts of different ways the snake could alter his plans plagued the young blondes mind as he got to the top of the stairs and walk into the box.

All eyes turned to him as he made his way to the ledge and stared out at the arena floor as both Shino and Dosu got ready to fight.

No one said anything as they watched him.

His face had been just as big a surprise to the Leaf-Gennin as it had the Mist and Sand. The only ones that didn't have a sad look on their faces were Shikamaru, who had a contemplating look in his eyes, Gaara, who knew how hard it could be for the life of a jinchuuriki and Akasha, how just looked on as if nothing had happened.

Walking over to the blonde Gaara and his siblings stood on either side of him and looked down at the fight.

"Our father is dead; the snake has taken his place. The Sand will not attack."

Casting a sideways look to the redhead next to him, Naruto grinned, then looked back to the arena.

XXX

As soon as the fight started Dosu had ran at Shino and tried to hit him, which the bug boy had dodged with ease. They could all see the smirk in the Sound-nins eyes turn to confusion and then slight fear as he jumped back just in time to avoid the exploding bug clone as it went off, thousand of bug that had started to fly towards him as soon as they took their original form.

When he had gotten to a safe distance Dosu had lifted his arm and, turning it so his forearm faced the incoming swam, flicked the metal bracer he had on his wrist. The effect was instantiations; the swarm became erratic and started to fly in all directions before falling to the ground, stunned.

When he was sure they wouldn't be a problem anymore Dosu turned his back to them and started looking around the arena for any sign of Shino.

This turned out to be a big mistake.

As soon as he turned away the now stunned bugs disappeared in a cloud of smoke and out of it leaped Shino, his arm drawn back in preparation of a strike.

Seeing his opponent out of the corner of his eye, Dosu was able to move out of the way just in time to avoid the long needle like weapon as it shot out of the young Aburame's sleeve. But what he wasn't accepting was for another to come out of the other and impale him in the stomach.

Unlike in the prelims when he faced Zaku, this time when Shino backed away he didn't offer Dosu the chance to surrender and raised his hand in the air. Seeing what he was doing and remembering what had happened to Zaku, Dosu's eyes went wide.

"Wait-"

When he clicked his fingers the sound encode around the stadium, shortly followed by the agonised screams of Dosu as his body was eaten from the inside out. The bandaged covered boy fell to the ground a squirmed in pain for a few moments before going completely still.

Without even waiting for the waiting for Genma to declare him the winner, Shino turned his back on the corps, recalled his bugs and walked calmly to the tunnel back up to the waiting area.

XXX

Seeing that his team mate had finished, Naruto turned to Temari and Shikamaru, who had joined then at the balcony when the match had started.

"Go as far with your fight as you can without killing each other."

"I thought we needed to save our chakra."

"Don't want the snake to get suspicions. If he sees you both holding back he might realise something is wrong to early."

Both teens looked at each other for a moment, nodded their heads and walked towards the stairs just as Shino came up.

XXX

When he got to the arena floor Shikamaru couldn't help the sigh that escaped his lips as he looked to the steel faced Kunoichi standing across from him. This was going to be so troublesome.

Taking a kunai out of his pouch and getting into a lose defensive stance, the young Nara nodded to the proctor to let him know he was ready.

The moment the match started he jumped away as far as he could in order to avoid the wind attacks that the Sand-nin sent towards him. For the first few minutes of the match it was the same, he would try to catch Temari with his shadow while she would send an attack at him whenever he got close.

At some point Shikamaru found himself hiding behind one of the few trees that had not been destroyed by Temari. After sending a look to the sky and finding the sun directly over the stadium, the lazy Nara made a choice and released the henge he had on himself.

The cloud of smoke that burst alerted Temari to his position and she sent a strong blast of wind at the tree, cutting it in half. But when the smoke cleared there was no sign of her opponent.

Before she could react, a she felt a kunai pressed to the back of her neck, forcing her to drop her fan and surrender.

As soon as she did the kunai was taken away from her neck and she turned to find a boy in a black and red bodysuit and mask without eye holes fall to their knees, panting heavily.

Reaching up to his head, Shikamaru pulled off the mask and fell back and looked up at the clouds.

When he still hadn't gotten up after 5 minutes, Temari got a tic mark on the back of her head and, grabbing him by his left leg, dragged him back to the waiting booth. This was met with many wolf whistles from the crowd, causing her to blush.

XXX

After Shikamaru and Temari's match, there was a 10 minute brake.

When they got to the booth Temari, who was still dragging the Lazy Nara, through him into a corner at the back of the room and went to stand with her brothers. Because of the way she had thrown him, Shikamaru found himself upside down with his feet next to his head.

Walking up to the downed boy, Naruto stood over him for a moment before standing on his head and smiling at him.

"How you doing?"

"I'm exhausted and can't feel my arms and legs."

"Sounds like a night in with a girlfriend, you know I think Temari likes you."

"... Why are you standing on your head?"

"I thought it would make it easier, you know with you being upside down."

"Why not just turn me back around?"

"This way was more fun."

Before Shikamaru had time to think of a retort to that the insane blonde put a seal on his forehead, got back up and walked back to stand with the Sand-nin and Shino, who was having a whispered conversation with Kankuro.

Before long the seal on his head started to glow and within a few minutes his chakra was full restored. But instead of getting up, the lazy Gennin closed his eyes and went to sleep.

XXX

When the 10 minutes were up Gaara and Sasuke made their way down to the arena floor. They both knew what they needed to do. It was their job to put on a convincing show until Orochimaru set off his attack.

The light hit them as they walked out of the tunnel and into the arena, the crowd cheering loudly at what was probably one of the matches they had been waiting for, and bet the most money on.

Just like the other the two stood across from each other in ready stances and waited for the match to start.

Gaara had borrowed some of Temari's makeup, much to Naruto's amusement, to darken the rings around his eyes so it looked like he hadn't slept. Ever since Naruto had fixed his seal he had been able to sleep without any risk so his rings had lightened, but not disappeared.

As he stood with his arms crossed and his eyes locked on the Uchiha, he tried to put as much killing intent into his gaze as he could.

The moment the match started Sasuke jumped back to avoid a tendril of sand that had tried to grab him while running through had seals.

When he finish he sent a large ball of fire at the sand, turning it to glass.

When he saw the sand turn to glass Sasuke's smirked and spread through a large amount of hand seals.

"**Fire style: Dragon Bullet!**"

The dragon shaped fire charged towards the red head, leaving a large scorch mark on the ground.

Making no attempt to doge, arms still folded, the dragon hit Gaara dead on and a cloud of smoke rose from the impact zone.

Not wanting to get court off guard Sasuke, who was panting from the strain that particular Jutsu put on his chakra coils, moved away from the smoke.

Before it cleared fully another tendril of sand burst out of the ground between his feet, wrapped itself around his ankle and hung him in the air.

The smoke cleared for all to see a large glass wall raised in front of a stone faced Gaara, arms still crossed.

Still tired from using the **Dragon Built** that Kakashi sensei had tort him, Sasuke was unable to do anything as the sand slowly made its way down his body.

"Hey! Duck-ass! If you don't win I'm tying you to tree in the forest of death and using a bigger fish this time!"

Sasuke's eyes shot wide open.

He didn't need to look to know who had said that and, knowing Naruto, the blonde would keep his word to the letter.

Just as the sand was about to cover his face the raven haired boy replaced himself with a branch that had been broken off one of the trees from Temari's wind attacks.

Using the switch as cover, Sasuke ran up on Gaara from behind with one of his short sword in hand and made to smash him on the back of the head with the hilt.

The instant it made contact with the Sand-nins skin he burst into sand, which lurched back and tried to wrap him in a cocoon of sand.

Reacting quickly, Sasuke used another replacement with the same branch as before and escaped the sand just before it swallowed him whole.

Reappearing in a swirl of sand at the opposite end of the arena, Gaara looked at the now panting Uchiha and a small smirk spread across his face. Speeding through hand seals and slamming both his hand on the floor the red head announced in a voice early above a whisper.

"**Earth Conversion Jutsu**"

The ground under their feet started to shake and, slowly at first but picking up speed, it turned into sand. The arena had just become a miniature desert.

His smirk turning into a full blown grin, Gaara went through more hand seals.

"**Sand Cocoon Jutsu**"

At his words the sand around his feet rose up and encased him in a sphere of sand, a small eye forming about a foot above it.

This was what Sasuke had been waiting for, speeding through hand seals of his own, holding his right wrist he gathered his chakra and announced.

"**Chidori!"**

As the lightning coated his hand Sasuke ran forward, Sharingan blazing, and charged the sphere. As he ran he was forced to dodge multiple sand spears that erupted from the sand and tried to impale him.

When he was only 3 meters away from his target Sasuke jumped up in the air and slammed his lightning coated fist straight through it.

For a moment nothing happened, the entire stadium silent. Then the silence was replaced with an ear splitting scream.

"BLOOD! MY BLOOD!"

Pulling his hand back and jumping away from the now frantic boy everyone could see the blood on the young Uchiha's hand.

XXX

"Your brothers a better actor then I thought."

Up in the competitors box all the Gennin were preparing for what they knew would happen next as the sky was filled with small white feathers.

Even the three girls from mist were checking their equipment.

What none of the people watching in the stadium new was that Gaara was not actually hurt. The blood on Sasuke's hands was the result of a small blood pellet he had held in his fist which he had exploded.

The ploy had worked perfectly.

XXX

The moment Orochimaru had seen the blood he had sent out the signal, expecting Gaara to go berserk.

This meant they were able to partially control when he would start the invasion.

The moment the crowd was asleep a group of ninja appeared in a puff of smoke and shunshined them away in large groups.

No sooner had this happened then another large group of ninja appeared, these wearing head protectors with the symbol for the Sound village.

Looking around in slight confusion at the empty seats they didn't notice the sand they were stood on moving.

It exploded to at them in a huge cloud and, before they could even scream, it solidified around them and blood exploded out of the large cocoon.

Turning to were the sphere of sand had been moments before; Sasuke looked at Gaara with a questioning look.

Shrugging his shoulders in a bored manner the red head just let a small smile cross his face.

"Old habits die hard"

"Ha-ha, you got that right"

Appearing next to the Sand-nin, Naruto slung an arm around his shoulders and pulled him into a headlock, the other Gennin appearing moments later.

"That was a good show"

"I can't breathe"

Laughing at his word the blonde let go and looked up at the strange purple box that had appeared at the top of the Kage's booth and shuck his head before turning to the large group of Sound-nin that was filling the stadium, being careful to avoid the sand after what had happened to their comrades.

Taping a small seal on the inside of his wrist three large seals appeared in a cloud of smoke in front of the group.

Looking at the scrolls curiously Sasuke walked over to the insane blonde.

"What are they for?"

"Remember that Jutsu I used in Wave?"

How could he forget it.

Seeing the boys nod, Naruto continued.

"Well, this is the completed version. They each contain a parade made of blood clones, each shifted into a different creature. The problem I had with making them was that a blood clone doesn't get a bloodline when it's made, so I had to shape them as I made them."

Both Sasuke and Shino's eyes widened while the others, that hadn't seen the jutsu he was talking about were confused.

Walking up to the blonde with a slight sway of her hips Akasha leaned over the scrolls.

"So that's why it didn't change when you were fighting the Hyuuga, it couldn't."

"Yep"

Picking up the waist high scrolls the blonde throw one to Shikamaru and one to Shino, keeping the last for himself.

"Go to different points in the village and releases the seals."

Nodding their heads they were about to leave when the blonde stopped them.

"Oh, and put these on."

Turning to the boy they were just in time to catch the small rings that he had thrown to them. They were made from a type of steel and were covered in tiny seals.

"What are they for?"

"They let you lead the parade."

Without further question they jumped away in opposite directions, Shino and Kankuro going north and Shikamaru, Temari and Sasuke going east.

That left Naruto, Gaara and the three Mist-nin.

Nodding to the red head, he made a Shadow clone and sent it off with the last scroll before turning his attention back at the purple box and jumped to the roof.

XXX

As they made their way through the village with a scroll that contained an entire army, Shikamaru was struck by just how many Sound-nins there were.

They didn't seem that strong, cannon fodder at best, but there were so many of them that they were able to push their way through the village because of their numbers alone. For every Leaf or Sand-nin there were about 10 Sound.

Putting those thoughts to the back of his mind they made their way to a street that had become overrun with Sound-nin. They had surrounded a group of ten Leaf-nin and 4 Sand-nin and were moving in for the kill.

Quickly slipping the ring on his finger, Shikamaru bit his thumb, running it on the top of the scroll and through it into the air, unreeling it in the process and channelled some chakra into it.

The air was filled with a thick white smoke and when it cleared it was to the sight of a thousand demonic... creatures, standing on the roofs of the street.

The smoke had been enough to draw the attention of the Sound-nin away from the group in front of them.

When they saw the mass of creatures looking down at them with hungry eyes many lost their nerve and tried to run.

But before they could get far the voice of Shikamaru rang out.

"Kill the Sound-nin and help and Leaf or Sand nin you find!"

All eyes were drawn to the voice that had seemed to be layered by several others when it gave its command.

The ring on Shikamaru's hand was glowing a faint blue and both his eyes had glazed over.

But before any could get a better look at him, the horde sprang from their positions on the roofs and crashed into the Sound-nin like a meteor hitting earth.

XXX

Shino and Kankuro had had little trouble getting to their destination.

The Ninja academy of Konoha was completely surrounded by Sound-nin and, through the teachers were putting up a good fight; it looked to be a losing battle.

At the front of the group of Chunnin was Iruka, his scared face set into a determined scowl as he sent a kunai into the chest of one of the Sound-nin, only for another to take his place before he hit the ground.

They could see the students stood at the windows with scared looks on their faces as the teacher were getting pushed back further and further to the school.

Putting the ring on his right index figure, Shino bite his thumb and let a few drops of blood fall onto the scroll. Kicking onto its side he pushed it towards the Sound-nin who had yet to notice them.

Seeing the scroll rolling towards them Iruka let out a warning to his fellow teachers, thing it was an exploding tag of some kind. The scroll burst into smoke and when it cleared the Sound-nin that had surrounded the school were trapped in a circle of laughing demons.

"Protect the Academy and its students."

The voice that came from Shino's mouth had a weird echo to it that made it seem like several people were talking at once.

As soon as the commanded was given the creatures surged forward.

XXX

In the stands of the stadium many fights had broken out between the Jonnin and Sound-nin.

In the centre of the arena turned desert Gaara and the Mist-nin stood. Every time one of the Sound-nin tried to charge at them they were swallowed up by the sand and crushed.

Whenever one of the Sound-nin got to close for comfort one of three things would happen.

One, they would look at the pink haired girl and stop in place to stare at her before getting swallowed by the sand.

Two, they would be hit with a strange kunai made of ice thrown at them from the purple haired girl that would explode on contact and freeze them solid.

Or three, they would be cut to pieces by a long, red whip that was coming out of the white haired girls palm that looked like it was made from blood.

XXX

Naruto landed on the roof where the Hokage, Jiraiya and Orochimaru were fighting in the large purple box to see a four ANBU stood on the outside watching the battle inside.

Walking up to one in a cat mask the blonde inquired.

"So, why are you on this side when the fight is in there?"

Turing to look at him out of the corner of her eye, the cat masked ANBU pointed to a blackened corps laying a few feet away, smoke still rising of it.

Getting a curios look in his eyes, Naruto walked up to the purple wall and pocked it with his finger. The flesh on his finger was burned away and when he pulled it back it looked just like the corps on the ground.

Nodding his head in thought, the young blonde took several steps back and charged at the wall.

The ANBU made to stop him but were too late; he hit the wall and was consumed by fire.

XXX

Jumping back from his former sensei and teammate, Orochimaru sent a quick glance to the body of whomever it was that had tried to get past the barrier.

"It's time I ended this,** Impure** **Resurrection Jutsu!**"

Slamming his hands to the floor ground the Snake-sannin stepped back as three swirling purple portals appeared on the ground and three wooden coffins slowly rose from them. On each coffin was a number, 1, 2 and 4.

Realising what he was trying to do Sarutobi made to throw several kunai at the coffin ladled 4 but was stopped by a hand grabbing his wrist. Turing to see who had stopped him, the old Hokage came face to bandaged face with Naruto.

"What are you doing, I have to stop him!"

He got no replay and when he turned back to his old student it was too late.

In front of them were three open coffins rivalling the Shodaime, Nidame and Yondame Hokage's.

Both the First and Second started to moved and stepped out of their coffins, but the Fourth didn't move.

Getting a confused look on his face Orochimaru stepped closer and picked the body of the Fourth. It didn't move.

"What the hell?"

Hearing laughter behind him the Snake-sannin turned to find the blonde boy pointing at him and laughing.

Before any of them could act the blonde stopped laughing and, in a burst of sped that caught the three Kage level ninja by surprise, grabbed the body from the coffin and ran back to where he was standing.

Looking at the pale faced man across from him, Naruto ginned.

"Thanks, I've been trying to find a way to get him his body back for almost three years now."

"What are you talking about?"

"You were able to summon the body but not the soul, which, it just so happens... I can."

Orochimaru's face when even paler when the boy said this and quickly stabbed a kunai into the back of both the First and Second Hokage's heads with a seal attached to them.

"Stop him! Kill them all!"

Without a word both men ran forward, heading straight for Naruto.

Looking to his right at both the Hokage and Jiraiya the blonde boy spoke as quickly as he could.

"I'll explain later, stall them, the snake can't move while he's controlling them. I need time to get this done."

With only a moment of hesitation the two men ran to meet their opponents.

Jiraiya engaging the Second and Sarutobi the First.

XXX

At some point during the fights the First had created a small jungle inside the barrier and Naruto had been lost from sight.

Leaning over the body in front of him he worked quickly, drawing seals over its entire body.

'_This had better work flashlight'_

...

'_It will _'

XXX

The straight was starting to show on Orochimaru's face as he kept supplying the chakra needed to keep the First and Second fighting. His plan had been for it to only take a few moments for them to kill Sarutobi, but with Jiraiya and then the Kyuubi brat showing up it had become a very dangerous situation.

If it stopped supplying chakra to the Hokage's he would be able to move and retreat with his sound four, but if he did that Sarutobi and Jiraiya would be on him in moments.

It was while the snake-sannin was preoccupied with the fights that he didn't notice the blonde blur sneaking up on him from behind.

By the time he was able to sense it he was too late to act.

Orochimaru was prepared for many things to happen, from a kunai in the back to a fire ball hitting him in the face, but what happened next was something he could have never expected. Patting him on the back Naruto walked around to his front in a calm way and looked him in the face.

"Hey, I don't think we've met. I'm Naruto, but you can call me 'DEAR GOD MAKE IT STOP!" if you want."

Despite the situation the pale faced sannin couldn't help the sweat drop that came onto his face.

Sitting down in front of him the blonde boy took out a few kunai and started to use them to juggle.

Confused as to why he didn't try to attack him Orochimaru decided to try and get some answers.

"Why aren't you trying to kill me?"

"Hm, oh well, if it ride you would just release the flow of chakra to your puppets, but if I wait than when you do that it will be easier for me."

'_Dam, he's right, if I keep this up I'll be an easy target!_"

Getting up off the ground Naruto put his hand in one of the kunai pouches on his hip and pulled out a black permanent pen.

For the next few minutes Orochimaru was forced to stand and do nothing while the boy draw on his face.

When he was done Naruto took a step back and admired his work.

The man in front of him know had a pair of glasses drawn on his face along with tow swirls on over his eyes and a goofy grind over his mouth.

Losing his patience with the insane blonde Orochimaru lost concentration on his jutsu and grabbed him by the collar.

"Enough, now I'm going to enjoy killing you slowly and painfully!"

The grin never left the blondes face and just as the snake-sannin's cheeks bulged out and he was about to spit a horde of snakes onto the boy he was hit in the face by Jiraiya and almost sent flying into the barrier. Just before he made contact with the purple wall of death it vanished and the four Sound-nin that had been holding it jumped up, grabbed the snake like man and shunshined away.

Not happy that they were getting away Naruto took out his two scythes out from behind his back and through them in their direction just as they were disappearing in a swirl of leafs.

The scythes started to spin in mid are like a pair of buzz saws and disappeared along with the five ninja, just as a scream of pain was heard echoing around the village.

Turning to the shocked faces of Jiraiya and Sarutobi, Naruto grinded.

"Well, that was fun."

XXX

**Let me know what you think of the chapter :)**


	21. Aftermath

**Hey, sorry about the late update, hope you enjoy the chapter :)**

XXX  
><strong>Disclaimer: I own nothing :(<strong>  
>XXX<p>

Chapter 21- Aftermath

The next few minutes were spent in complete silence, both Sarutobi and Jiraiya just staring at the insane blonde in front of them. Naruto just stood there, looking off into empty space and humming to himself, when suddenly his face lost its grin looked annoyed.

"That pedo took my scythes!"

Both elderly ninja faced faulted at his words, after everything that had just happened he was pissed that he had lost his scythes.

Waving off the ANBU that were rushing over to check on him Sarutobi let out a breath and walked over to Naruto, patted him on the back before getting a serious look on his face.

"Naruto, what did you do with the body?"

Turning to look at the old man Naruto looked confused.

"What body?"

"The body of the Yondaime"

"?"

"The blonde man"

"Oh, I forgot about him"

All those on the roof sweat dropped at that, even the ANBU.

"Flashlight is over here, he was weak from the transfer so he couldn't fight."

"... What do you mean weak, Naruto, the Yondaime is dead."

The boy just grinned and led them to a small clearing in the trees that the Shodaime had made. There, sitting in a meditative position with his legs crossed was a tall blonde man in a white trench cloak with flames on the bottom.

They were all stood in shock when he opened his blue eyes and smiled at them.

"Hey, so what have I missed?"

XXX

**Three years ago- Naruto's cell**

XXX

Naruto sat in his cell, the seals on the walls and chains glowing blue in the over wise dark room. It had been two years since he was locked in here, nothing to do and the only company being the Kyuubi in his own mind.

Over the last two years he found himself in his mind more often than in the real world, but how could blame him.

After his first meeting with the oversized fox in his head Naruto had done a little redecorating. Instead of the dark sewer with blood flowing through it there was now a full scale village, to be more specific, Konoha. It had all the same buildings, the shops and houses, even the Hokage tower. But unlike the real Konoha, this one was like a ruin. The buildings were in disrepair and the ground was dry, vines grow over what was left of the buildings and walls. The sky was always dark, with a blood red moon casting a red glow over the village.

Another thing that was different was that instead of people walking around the streets there were strange creatures that could have been straight out of a nightmare, which, as it so happens, they were.

Naruto had learned long ago that most of the buildings were gateways, doors that led to different memories. He could walk up to any building and find himself in the past.

Another thing that he had learned was that the creatures that lived in his mind, while being a part of him, were separate at the same time. He had asked Kyuubi about it and was told that they were all his different personalities, emotions and thoughts given form.

He was currently walking down the street towards the Hokage tower. When he was in his mind Naruto didn't have any scares, not that he would care if he did. The only reason he didn't hide them with a shift was because it was funny to see people's reaction to what he looked like when he took off the bandages. He was wearing a white shirt with an orange spiral on the chest and a pair of lose black shorts.

Walking next to him was a beautiful girl in her mid teens. She stood at about 5'7 in height, with long red heir that she let fall lose down her back and on top of her head was a pair of red fox like ears. Her breasts were at least a D cup and she had curves in all the right places. The blood red kimono she wore did little to hide her figure and left very little to the imagination, it stopped just a few inches below her hips. She wore a pair of tite black shorts with 9 red tails sticking out at the base of her spin. Her face seemed perfect in every way, from the curve of her lips to the pair of firer like red eyes.

Yes the Kyuubi was a girl, and not just any girl, what might be one of the most beautiful girls in the elemental nations. The first time she told him Naruto had laughed, that is until she shrank right in front of him and changed into the woman that stood next to him now. That in itself wasn't the problem; it was the fact that she had been completely naked.

That had been the first and only time Naruto had fainted from a nose bleed, something Kyuubi was very proud of. Ever since then she had tried to get him to do it again, but with little success. She would always flirt with him, even though he was still young, but what was age to a thousand year old demon.

To a demon like herself, the only thing that mattered in a mate was power, if they were strong, they were hot.

The main problem she had found was that despite the reaction he had had to her at first, the blonde was to put it simply, an idiot when it came to women and she found it too funny to tell him.

Maybe when he was older.

Naruto had never actually go to the Hokage tower, through he didn't know why, probably just couldn't be bothered. But Kyuubi told him there was something interesting that he needed to see.

As they walked down the street they were greeted by several others, a large grey behemoth, a skinny man that seemed to be made of rags and a small rabbit with glowing red eyes. When they finally arrived at the tower there was no one else around, which was strange. Walking up to the doors Naruto kicked them open, causing a loud bang to echo off the walls.

Inside it was just like the real tower, though older and a little run down. A spiral stair case running around the outside of the circler room leading to hundreds of different offenses and at the top a balcony that lead to the Hokage's office.

Not bothering with the other rooms Kyuubi led him to the top of the tower and stopped outside the door to the Hokage office.

Raising an eyebrow at her he kicked the door like he did the one at the bottom.

It was just like the real thing, the desk and the paintings. The only difference was that there was no window looking out over the village and that unlike the rest of his mind, this room was in perfect condition.

If it wasn't for the blonde guy sat in the chair behind the desk instead of the old man he would have thought he was in a memory.

The man looked like an older version of Naruto himself, with the same blonde hair and blue eyes. He knew who it was straight away.

Seeing the boy stood in the doorway Minato stood from his desk and walked around to the other side, a warm smile on his face.

It wasn't there for long.

Seeing the smile had done something to Naruto that hadn't happened in 2 years, he got angry. The grin fell from his face and was replaced with a look of absolute hatred. His skin began to ripple. Running into the room straight at the man, which apparently thought he was going for a hug, Naruto lunged at him and tried to tear out his throat.

Minato was so surprised that he was barely able to stop the now clawed hands an inch from his neck.

Neither of them noticed the laughter that came from the girl that was stood in the corner, watching the two as they rolled around the ground, both trying to get on top of the other.

After a few minutes Kyuubi walked over and grabbed the smaller boy by the scruff of his neck and pulled him off the older man, kicking and screaming.

It was just so cute.

When Minato finally got his bearings he looked up to see something that made him blush.

The boy that had attached him, that he knew to be is son, was being held in a bone crushing hug by a beautiful girl in a red kimono. She had lifted him up off the ground so his legs were kicking about wildly; the reason for this was that his face had been pressed into her large cleavage, suffocating him.

"You're so cute when you're angry Naru-chan!"

Her voice was like the tinkling of bells and the seductive way it was said made a shiver run down the former Hokage's back. If his wife was here she would kill him.

Just when it seemed the boy would suffocate the red headed woman turned him around so that he was facing Minato, but didn't releases him from the hug and the back of his head still nestled in between her breasts.

The moment his face was out of her breasts Naruto took in several deep breaths, his face red from lack of oxygen. When he got his breath back the young blonde looked at the girl holding him, all the rage at seeing his father gone, and pouted.

"You said you wouldn't do that anymore!"

Lowering her head so it was level with his Kyuubi rubbed her cheek against his.

"But you were so cute, like a little chibi kit. I just had to hug you!"

The pout still on his face, Naruto turned his eyes back to his dad, who had just noticed Kyuubi's ears and tail and had backed away.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

Minato was slightly taken aback by the way Naruto spoke.

"Watch your language"

Both Kyuubi and Naruto stared at him for a moment with blank expressions on their faces, giving nothing away. Then, without warning, they both broke out in laughter.

Getting a tic mark at the back of his head from being laughed at, Minato snapped.

"WHAT'S SO FUNNY?"

Still laughing, Naruto slowly stated to speak.

"Ha-ha- you-ha- actually think-ha-ha- that I would- ha- listen to anything-ha-ha- you say-ha-ha."

"I'm your father"

That stopped them laughing.

Locking eyes with Minato again, the smaller blonde got a blank expression on his face.

"Fuck you flashlight"

XXX

From then on Naruto and Kyuubi would go and see Minato whenever they could be bothered. It turned out that he wasn't able to leave the room, which meant that he couldn't see outside. It took almost a whole year before Naruto would have a real conversation with the blonde Hokage and even then he still didn't talk much.

It broke Minato's heart to see how much his own son hated him. The look in his eyes when he saw him was almost enough to bring tears to his eyes.

As time went on he noticed several things about Naruto, two that stood out from the rest. The first was that the village must not have treated him like a hero the way he had wished and the second was that he was completely insane. It was little things at first, a random word here, uncalled for laughter there, but over time he pieced it together to a cretin extent.

They never talked about the village inside or outside his head, Naruto had said in passing that he was in the School but before he could ask him to elaborate the younger blond had moved on to something else.

He never asked about Kushina, afraid of what he might here. The only reason he could think of for her not being there for their son was that she was dead.

The fact that Kyuubi was always with Naruto had at first worried Minato, thinking that she had done something to him that had made him like this, but his fears went away after seeing how she acted around him. It was actually kind of creepy, the Kyuubi no Kitsune, strongest of the nine, seemed to _like_ his son.

Naruto, being the idiot he was, couldn't tell but Minato did. She would always hug him and was never far away at any one time. Taking any excuse to touch him.

When he thought about it, it was actually kind of funny.

It took a long time but the older blonde was able to get Naruto to at least be natural around him. It didn't hurt that he started to teach him how to make seal.

He was surprised when one day Naruto's voice started to echo around the room that was for all intense and purposes his prison, telling him that he had his body and was going to move him into it.

The world around him started whirl and the next thing he knew he was laying on a tiled floor surrounded by trees. A wave of sickness hit him and he found he was unable to get up.

Bending over him with a blank expression on his face was Naruto.

"Stay here"

Without another word he turned and left.

XXX

**Flashback-end**

XXX

Everything seemed to move at super speed after that. The Sound-nin had retreated, at least the ones that were still alive, and the wounded had all been moved to the hospital, including Minato.

After getting an explanation about how he was alive, something to do with accidentally sealing himself in his son, Sarutobi and Jiraiya had turned to the blonde and asked why he didn't tell them about Minato.

His response had caused all in the room at the time to face fault.

"Thought I did, hey dose anyone else see that lama in the corner or is it just me?"

Of cause, it was just him.

Both Shino and Shikamaru were also in the hospital. It turned out that although it didn't take much chakra to control one of Naruto's parades, it did put a lot of strain on the mind. They would be ok, but tired for quite some time.

It was for this very reason he had given them the rings in the first place, he knew that they would be able to handle it better then one of the others.

The news that the Yondaime was back spread through the village like wild fire, through only a select few knew how. But that didn't stop the rumours.

Some of the more enthusiastic Naruto haters thought he was back to finish what he had started and would finally rid them of the 'demon brat' once and for all. Others that had heard about what Orochimaru had done thought the Jutsu had gone wrong and had accidentally brought him back.

And the rest were just so happy he was back that they didn't care how.

As soon as they were brought out of the shelters hidden in the Hokage monument the people of Konoha had surrounded the hospital hoping to see him for them selves.

XXX

It had been two weeks sine the failed invasion and Naruto, along with Sarutobi, other members of the 'rookie 12' as they had come to be known after the invasion, Minato and Jiraiya were stood at the north gat into Konoha to see of Gaara and his siblings off.

They, along with Baki had stayed in the village to help with the reconstruction of the village while a new alliance was being made between the two villages.

Both Shino and Shikamaru were in wheel chairs because thy were still recovering form the strain of commanding the parades and Minato, who had been reinstated as the Yondaime Hokage was leaning on Jiraiya for support.

At first he was going to refuse the position, but after a conversation with his son that ended with the threat of castigation if he didn't take the job, he had reluctantly agreed.

When Sarutobi asked Naruto why he was forcing Minato into the job he had laughed and said he thought it would be funny to watch him have to do mountains of paperwork.

When they had all said their goodbyes Naruto walked forward with a huge grin on his back and two large bundles in his arms that seemed to come out of nowhere.

Raising and eyebrow at his friend, Gaara asked what they were.

"Gifts"

He had then proceeded to open out one of the bundles to revel three scrolls and a pair of beautiful white fans connected to each other by a metal wire.

Picking up the fans and tossing then to Temari, he started to explain.

"I made then for you. Their smaller then your normal fan but easier to handle and when you channel wind chakra through them their more precise, but shorter range, I thought they would be a good short range weapon for you."

Like everything else Naruto made they were covered in complicated seals that when Temari channelled chakra through glowed with a faint blue light.

Before she could thank him Naruto had already walked up to Kankuro and handed him two of the three scrolls.

At the boy questioning look the blonde grinned.

"I don't know much about puppets, so I came up with this. Read through them when you get back to your village. One of then is a storage scroll with a special metal I made you can use, enjoy."

Nodding his head to Naruto, the puppeteer put the scrolls in his bag. And was about to step back when Naruto siad something that made his blood boil.

"And find a nice boy or something, I'm sure you'll make a wonderful wife someday. "

If it wasn't for Baki grabbing him by the back of the collar he would have punched him right in the nose.

"I'M NOT GAY!"

Paying no attention to the red faced Kankuro, Naruto turned to Gaara and handed him the last scroll without a word before moving back to the other bundle he had brought.

When he took off the rapping they could all see four wood boards about 7 foot long covered in seals with the Sand-village insignia on the front.

Handing one to each of them, including Baki, Naruto laughed at the confused faces and explained.

"Just a little something to seed up your trip, I call them 'Sand Boards'. You can ride them in the desert."

Nodding their heads at the blonde they said one more goodbye and left.

XXX

(IMPORTANT AN)

**For those worried about Naruto becoming more san don't, it just hard to write it at the current part of the story. I have an arc coming up hat will have him going crazy and killing people but don't know how long until I get to it. Also for those wondering why Minato didn't go crazy it's because he couldn't leave the room.**

**Also I have decided to put the next chapter of this story on hold. It wouldn't be permanent, but I just thought I'd let you now. Sorry :(**

**I AM NOT ABANDANING THIS STORY!**

**Let me know what you think :)**

**R&R**


	22. AN

**AN**

This is just to clear things up.

I'm not putting this fic on hold so much as the next chapter may take a while to write.

I want to make sure it is right so it could be some time to get it done.

Hope that clears things up XD


	23. important AN

**AN**

I have decided to rewrite the True Horror of Konoha, for more details please read the AN in the first chapter of 'The True Horror of Konoha.2' that I will be putting up either today or tomorrow.


End file.
